CANTEEN • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Canteen

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/kæntˈin/ Listen

noun

Canteen n. (Mil.)

A small vessel used by soldiers or hikers for carrying water, liquor, or other drink. (Written also cantine) Note: In 1910 in the English service the canteen is made of wood and holds three pints; in the United States it is usually a tin flask.

A chest containing culinary and other vessels for military officers in a garrison.

The sutler's shop in a garrison.

Hence: 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.

A temporary location where food is dispensed during an emergency.

See images of 'Canteen'

Etymology of 'Canteen'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

"Canteen" Quotes from Famous Books

... New York City, 1885. Educated in New York private schools and lived much abroad. In 1918, with her twin sister, she went into Red Cross Canteen work and was stationed at Chalons. As a result of depression due to nerve strain, both sisters committed suicide by jumping overboard from the steamer on which they were coming home. For their War ...

— Contemporary American Literature - Bibliographies and Study Outlines • John Matthews Manly and Edith Rickert

... to it, dark blue jacket, heavy shoes and woolen socks, an ugly, abominable cocky little cap patterned after the then French army style, gray woolen shirt, and other ordinary under-clothing. Was also given a knapsack, but I think I didn't get a haversack and canteen until later. Right here I will say that the regimental records give the date of my enlistment as the 7th of January, which is wrong. The date was the 6th. It was a day I did not forget, and never shall. How the authorities happened to get the date wrong I do not know, but it is ...

— The Story of a Common Soldier of Army Life in the Civil War, 1861-1865 • Leander Stillwell

... man follow close behind. Entering the main trench, I hurried along, and was quite near the King Street turning when a Hun "crump" came tearing overhead. I yelled out to my man to take cover, and crushed into the entrance of a dug-out myself. In doing so, I upset a canteen of tea over a bucket-fire which one of our lads was preparing to drink. His remarks were drowned in the explosion of the shell, which landed barely twenty-five ...

— How I Filmed the War - A Record of the Extraordinary Experiences of the Man Who - Filmed the Great Somme Battles, etc. • Lieut. Geoffrey H. Malins

... perhaps you're cold? You'll soon get warm. Hither with the canteen. Let's drink a little Dutch courage first. Begin. Hentes. A long draught of brandy is, you know, good before ...

— Debts of Honor • Maurus Jokai

... became uneasy. The stream had disappeared as though poured into a colossal crevice. A few feet below the gravel he struck solid rock. He tried dynamite unsuccessfully. Then he hoarded the drippings from the grotto crevice till he had filled his canteen. Carefully he stowed his gold in a chamois pouch and prepared to leave the canon. His burro had strayed during the week of drought—was probably dead ...

— Overland Red - A Romance of the Moonstone Canon Trail • Henry Herbert Knibbs

More quotes...