canister

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A usually cylindrical storage container, especially.
• noun A box or can of thin metal or plastic used for holding dry foodstuffs or cooking ingredients, such as flour or sugar.
• noun A small plastic container used for storing a roll of film.
• noun A metal container that holds pressurized gas, as one containing tear gas that explodes on impact or one containing oxygen as part of a breathing apparatus.
• noun A metallic cylinder packed with shot that scatter upon discharge from a cannon, formerly used as an antipersonnel round.
• noun Such cylinders, or the shot used in such cylinders, considered as a group.
• noun The part of a gas mask that contains the filter for removing toxic agents from the air.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun Properly, a small basket made of reeds, twigs, or the like.
• noun A small box or case for tea, coffee, etc.
• noun In the Roman Catholic Church, the metallic vessel used to contain the altar-breads or wafers before consecration. See altar-bread.
• noun Canister-shot.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun A small basket of rushes, reeds, or willow twigs, etc.
• noun A small box or case for holding tea, coffee, etc.
• noun (Mil.) A kind of case shot for cannon, in which a number of lead or iron balls in layers are inclosed in a case fitting the gun; -- called also canister shot.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• 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).
• noun Any of various cylindrical metal receptacles usually with a removable close-fitting top.
• noun 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.
• noun A component of canister type protective mask containing a mechanical filter and chemical filling to filter, neutralize and/or absorb toxic chemical, biological and radiological agents.
• noun A projectile component containing colored or screening smoke or riot control agent composition.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a metallic cylinder packed with shot and used as ammunition in a firearm
• noun metal container for storing dry foods such as tea or flour