canastas

Noun

canasta (plural canastas)

1. (uncountable) A card game similar to rummy and played using two packs, where the object is to meld groups of the same rank.
   • “Do you know something, Fred?” she announced, “I won four dollars and eighty-five cents playing Canasta this afternoon.”
   • “Canasta!” exclaimed Mr. Grimes, “I didn′t know you could play that silly game.”1951 July, Henry F. Tenney, “Per Stirpes and Not Per Capita: Or, What Your Clients Can Never Tell You”, in ABA Journal, page 492
2. (countable) A meld of seven cards in a game of canasta.
   • Groups of seven of a kind are called canastas, and before a player can go out he or his partner must have at least one canasta.1949 December 19, “The Canasta Craze”, in Life (magazine), page 47