a. [ad. L. Canōpic-us, f. Canōp-us a town of ancient Egypt.] Of or pertaining to Canopus. Canopic vase: a vase used in Egypt, chiefly for holding the entrails of embalmed bodies.
1878. Wilkinson, Anc. Egyptians, III. Index, Canopic vases.
1883. W. Armstrong, Perrot’s Art Anc. Egypt, I. 301. The canopic vases … were sometimes of stone, especially alabaster, sometimes of terra cotta, and now and then of wood, and were used to hold the viscera of the deceased.
