canister n.

late 14c., "long slender woody stem," from Old French cane "reed, cane, spear" (13c., Modern French canne), from Latin canna "reed, cane," from Greek kanna, perhaps from Babylonian-Assyrian qanu "tube, reed" (compare Hebrew qaneh, Arabic qanah "reed"), which may come from Sumerian-Akkadian gin "reed." The sense of "length of cane used as a walking stick" is from 1580s.

1945, Uruguayan card game played with two decks and four jokers, popular 1945-c. 1965; from Spanish, literally "basket," from Latin canistrum (see canister). In the game a canasta is seven cards of the same rank, giving the player a large bonus. A Spanish card-playing term for building up a meld was tejiendo las cartas, literally "weaving the cards," hence perhaps the name is based on the image of a woven "basket."

obsolete form of canister.