canteen

Noun

canteen (plural canteens)

1. A water bottle, flask, or other vessel, typically used by a soldier or camper as a bottle for carrying water or liquor for drink.
   • Come, stack arms, Men! Pile on the rails; stir up the campfire bright; no matter if the canteen fails, we'll make a roaring night. Here Shenandoah brawls along, there burly Blue Ridge echoes strong, to swell the Brigade's rousing song, of “Stonewall Jackson’s Way.”1862, John Williamson Palmer, Stonewall Jackson's Way
2. A military mess kit.
3. A box with compartments for storing eating utensils, silverware etc.
4. A temporary or mobile café used in an emergency or on a film location etc.
5. A small cafeteria or snack bar, especially one in a military establishment, school, or place of work.
   • He ordered a salad at the canteen.
   1. A cafeteria in a school or place of work.
   2. Goods purchased from a prison canteen.
      • Yeah, I worked that bitch. She was buying me all the canteen I wanted.1984 December 29, Mykki Balduff, “Prisons and Roles”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 25, page 6
      • “Well, le’me give you some advice,” he continued. “If someone offers you some canteen, don’t take it.”
      • I instinctively knew what he was warning me against. But I felt slightly disrespected because it wasn’t as if I were a frail young girl who might go out on a date with someone and feel obligated to have sex because the guy had bought me a Happy Meal. The way I saw it, if someone wanted to give me...2015 November 23, Melvin L. Boone, “Dark Corners”, in Pen America