canvas
1.
2.
3. A fabric of coarse open weave, used as a foundation for needlework.
4. The background against which events unfold, as in a historical narrative: a grim portrait of despair against the bright canvas of the postwar economy.
5. Nautical. A sail or set of sails.
6. a. A tent or group of tents. b. A circus tent.
7. Sports. The floor of a ring in which boxing or wrestling takes place.
under canvas
2. In a tent or tents.
[Middle English canevas, from Old French and from Medieval Latin canavāsium, both ultimately from Latin cannabis, hemp. See