Word.ws English Dictionary

canister

US/ˈkænɪstɚ/

canister noun: a cylindrical or rectangular container usually of lightweight metal, plastic, or laminated pasteboard used for holding a dry product (as tea, crackers, flour, matches).

canister: a cylindrical or rectangular container usually of lightweight metal, plastic, or laminated...
Image: Oxfordmale, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

canister (plural canisters)

  1. A cylindrical or rectangular container usually of lightweight metal, plastic, or laminated pasteboard used for holding a dry product (as tea, crackers, flour, matches).
    • Everything a living animal could do to destroy and to desecrate bed and walls had been done. […] A canister of flour from the kitchen had been thrown at the looking-glass and lay like trampled snow over the remains of a decent blue suit with the lining ripped out which lay on top of the ruin of a...1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC
  2. Any of various cylindrical metal receptacles usually with a removable close-fitting top.
  3. A special short-range antipersonnel projectile consisting of a casing of light metal, loaded with preformed submissiles such as flechettes or steel balls. The casing is designed to open just beyond the muzzle of the weapon, dispersing the submissiles.
  4. A projectile component containing colored or screening smoke or riot control agent composition.
  5. A component of canister-type protective masks containing a mechanical filter and chemical filling to filter, neutralize and/or absorb toxic chemical, biological and radiological agents.
  6. Part of a windmill that connects the sails to the windshaft.
  7. (archaic, slang) A person's head.
    • Caunt let fly left and right, but Bendy ducked his canister, and got down with more caution than gallantry.1897, R. G. Allanson-Winn, Bertram Fletcher Robinson, Boxing, page 225

Verb

canister (third-person singular simple present canisters, present participle canistering, simple past and past participle canistered)

  1. (transitive) To pack into a canister.

canister meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

canister in Hindi

कनस्तर

canister in Tamil

நீள் சிமிழ், தேயிலைப் பெட்டி, குண்டுரவைப் பெட்டி, அப்பப்பெட்டி

canister in Urdu

چائے دان, چاروں کا ڈبا

canister in Bengali

ক্যানিস্টার
More languagesFewer languages
canister in Telugu
క్యానిస్టర్
canister in Kannada
ಕ್ಯಾನಿಸ್ಟರ್
canister in Gujarati
કેનિસ્ટર
canister in Odia
କ୍ଯ଼ାନିଷ୍ଟର, କ୍ଯ଼ାନିଷ୍ଟର୍, କ୍ଯ଼ାନିସ୍ଟର
canister in Nepali
क्यानिस्टर, क्यानस्टर, क्यानिस्टर गर्न

Examples of canister in a sentence

  • The canister is leaking. I think the main seal needs to be replaced.
  • The painters in the paint booth were wearing the kind of respirators with dual filter canisters.
  • I wanted to dispose of an empty canister with a plastic top, cardboard sides and metal bottom, but I decided it was unrecyclable.

All 15 example sentences with canister

Forms of canister

Noun
pluralcanisters
Verb
third-person singular presentcanisters
present participlecanistering
past participlecanistered
pastcanistered

Plural of canister: canisters

Origin of canister

From Middle English canustyr (“basket”), a borrowing from Latin canistrum. Doublet of canaster and knaster. * (metal receptacle): Through influence of unrelated can. * (projectile): Short for canister shot, so called for its casing.

Words formed from canister

Questions about canister

What does canister mean?
Canister means a cylindrical or rectangular container usually of lightweight metal, plastic, or laminated pasteboard used for holding a dry product (as tea, crackers, flour, matches).
What is canister in Hindi?
Canister in Hindi is कनस्तर. See Canister meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is canister?
Canister can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce canister?
Canister is pronounced /ˈkænɪstɚ/ (US).
What is the plural of canister?
The plural of canister is canisters.

Words near canister in the dictionary

  1. Canis Latinicus
  2. Canisiana
  3. Canisius
  4. canistel
  5. canistels
  6. canister
  7. canister damascus
  8. canister shot
  9. canistered
  10. canistering
  11. canisterisation

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: canister (page history and authors); canister (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); canister (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); canister (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); canister (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); canister (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); canister (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); canister (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); canister (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); canister (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-canister.wav.

Cite this entry: “canister.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/canister. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.