Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A snack bar or small cafeteria, as on a military installation.
- noun A recreational facility, bar, or small general store formerly established for the patronage of soldiers.
- noun A recreation hall or social club where refreshments are available.
- noun A temporary or mobile eating place, especially one set up in an emergency.
- noun A usually metal container for carrying drinking water, as on a hike.
- noun A box with compartments for carrying cooking gear and eating utensils.
- noun A soldier's mess kit.
- noun Chiefly British A box used to store silverware.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A sort of sutler's shop in barracks, camps, garrisons, etc., where provisions, liquors, etc., are sold.
- noun A vessel used by soldiers for carrying water or liquor for drink.
- noun A square box, fitted up with compartments, in which British officers on foreign service pack a variety of articles, as spirit-bottles, tea and sugar, plates, knives, forks, etc.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Mil.) A small vessel used by soldiers or hikers for carrying water, liquor, or other drink.
- noun A chest containing culinary and other vessels for military officers in a garrison.
- noun The sutler's shop in a garrison.
- noun A store or small shop within a larger establishment where refreshments and sometimes other supplies are sold. At a military base the canteen may be as large as a general store; within a school or small company it may be only a small counter with very limited supplies, or a snack bar.
- noun A temporary location where food is dispensed during an emergency.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun a small
cafeteria orsnack bar , especially one in amilitary establishment, school, or place of work - noun a
temporary ormobile café used in anemergency or on a filmlocation etc - noun a
box withcompartments forstoring eatingutensils ,silverware etc - noun a
military mess kit - noun a
water bottle used by a soldier or camper
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a flask for carrying water; used by soldiers or travelers
- noun sells food and personal items to personnel at an institution or school or camp etc.
- noun a restaurant outside; often for soldiers or policemen
- noun a recreation room in an institution
- noun restaurant in a factory; where workers can eat
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Of course, you can only eat good desert if you go to the Science canteen or the NUH staff canteen
j-gan Diary Entry j-gan 2007
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Ordinarily the term canteen is another name for a drinking saloon, though a great variety of articles, such as soldiers need, are on sale and the profits go to the soldiers.
History of Negro Soldiers in the Spanish-American War, and Other Items of Interest Edward A. Johnson
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When A goes to take a drink, he sees and canteen is gone and ends up dying of thirst.
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Collins filled his canteen from the water barrel and dug out a box of shells for the shotgun.
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This is when we refill our canteen from the fountain of life.
Full-frame PJ 2006
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This is when we refill our canteen from the fountain of life.
Archive 2006-03-01 2006
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And the Malay food in the canteen is surpringly good, including this dish which is a favourite.
Archive 2005-09-01 Sharon Bakar 2005
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And the Malay food in the canteen is surpringly good, including this dish which is a favourite.
What Flavour is Your Novel? Sharon Bakar 2005
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He has nothing -- no water because his canteen is on the horse and Tony is gone.
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Wherefore the estimable old ladies who abolished the canteen from the American army may justly boast of having materially augmented the nation's military power.
INTERNET WIRETAP: The Devil's Dictionary, by Ambrose Bierce (1993 Edition) 1911
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