canned, adj. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

canned adj.

[SE can, a container for liquids]

1. (also canned up) drunk.

1916		J. Hargrave At Suvla Bay Ch. i: At the station they had to have another ‘wet’ in the refreshment room, and by the time the train was due to start a good many were ‘canned up.’.
1919		‘Sax Rohmer’ Dope 295: ‘Wotcher mean?’ shouted George. ‘You’re up the pole or canned you are!’.
1929		(con. 1916) F. Manning Her Privates We (1986) 36: Sergeant Trent and I took him out meaning to get him canned up. [Ibid.] 158: You never know what you’re doing when you’re canned.
c.1940–5		‘Myles na gCopaleen’ Best of Myles (1968) 338: Drunk; jarred; fluthered; canned.
1943		W. Brandon ‘It’s so Peaceful in the Country’ in Ruhm Hard-Boiled Detective (1977) 324: I’m too canned up to think good.
1950		P. Hoskins No Hiding Place! 192/2: Well Canned. Drunk.
1951		M. Spillane Long Wait (1954) 149: He was going to finish getting canned.
1961		G.L. Coon Meanwhile, Back at the Front (1962) 59: If he keeps it up he’ll get canned.
1999		Guardian Guide 5–12 June 93: A [...] relationship with Bulldog turns weird after he gets canned.

2. (US) of writing, information: rote, pre-packaged, ‘boilerplate’ [suggests that such writing ‘comes in a can’].

1904		‘O. Henry’ Cabbages and Kings 105: We’ll export canned music to the latins.
1917		Logan Republic (UT) 15 Sept. 2/2: Canned music will increase the production of canned cow on the prize dairy ranch [...] They like something like the ‘Blue Danube’.
1929		M. Levin Reporter 206: The publicity agent [...] was one of those agreeable chaps [...] ‘Anything up?’ said the reporter. The p.a. motioned towards several mimeographed stacks of canned copy.
1948		D. Wecter ‘The New Leisure Class’ in Brookhouser These Were Our Years (1959) 343: The invasion of music by radio, whether ‘live’ or ‘canned’ was greater still.
1976		Woodward & Bernstein Final Days 291: In fact, the whole enterprise was canned—it was a ritual, the decision had already been made.
2014		Ruderman & Laker Busted 12: She [i.e. a newspaper editor] couldn’t understand how some reporters were satisfied with canned interviews that everyone else had.

half-canned (adj.)

tipsy rather than wholly drunk.

1977		G. Melly Rum, Bum and Concertina (1978) 191: I couldn’t go for a man half-canned.
1984		Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 522: since ca. 1925.
2001		K. Sampson Outlaws (ms.) 20: And once I’m half-canned, I don’t mind admitting it — I’m punyani crazy. I have got to have a lady.

canned cattle (n.)

(US prison) corned beef.

1935

A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks 18/2: Canned cattle, corned beef (prison).

canned cow (n.) (also canned cow-juice) [cow n.¹ (6)]

(US) condensed milk.

1887		Great Falls Trib. (MT) 1 Jan. 2/1: The Indian [...] scorns the dyspeptic sardine and the poisonous canned cow-juice.
1908		Pacific Commercial Advertiser (Honolulu, HI) 26 May 10/2: He made no explanation of the presence of the milk [...] unless he had kidnapping in mind and wanted canned cow for a soother for the victim.
1911		Stevens Point (WI) Daily Journal 29 Aug. 3?/3: ‘If you fellers has got any milk and sugar ’n’ will pass out some coffee with ’em, I’ll be mighty glad yer come. Hog and hominy’s all right for a spell, but it gets sickenin’. Got er plug o’ terbaccy?’ Not only did Frank get out the canned cow and sugar, but he made biscuits in the Dutch oven and the eyes of the hunters fairly glistened at visions of the feast.
1917		Logan Republic (UT) 15 Sept. 2/2: Canned music will increase the production of canned cow on the prize dairy ranch [...] They like something like the ‘Blue Danube’.
1925		J. Stevens ‘Logger Talk’ AS I:3 137/2: ‘Chase that Java and canned cow over here, Stub.’ Asking for coffee and condensed milk.
1936		R.F. Adams Cowboy Lingo 148: Canned milk was ‘canned cow’.
1957		‘Weldon Hill’ Onionhead (1958) 105: Three mugs of coffee generously laced with ‘canned cow’.

canned goods (n.) [pun on can/can n.¹ (1a) + the image of a sealed tin]

(US) a virgin of either sex, usu. female; the genitalia of such a person; cite 1987 refers to a noice as regards sadomasochism.

1918		H. Simon ‘Prison Dict.’ in AS VIII:3 (1933) 25/1: CANNED GOODS. Virgin, female or male.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 40/1: Canned goods. (Central and Western prisons) A virgin; a sexually innocent man or woman.
1963		L.F. Freed Crime in S. Afr. 106: ‘canned goods’ means a virgin.
1966		Trimble 5000 Adult Sex Words and Phrases.
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 21: anal virgin [...] canned goods.
1987		personal ad in restroom Murray & Murrell Lang. Sadomasochism (1989) 48: Now accepting slaves, no canned goods, please.

canned mystery (n.)

canned sativa (n.) [pun on Lat. Cannabis sativa + ? drug use of sense 1 above]

(drugs) cannabis.

2002

DRUG-ARM Aus. 🌐 Slang Terms: canned sativa Cannabis resin.

canned stuff (n.) [stuff n. (5c)]

(US drugs) commercially packaged opium.

1937		B. Dai Opium Addiction in Chicago.
1938		D. Maurer ‘Lang. of the Und. Narcotic Addict’ Pt 2 in Lang. Und. (1981) 100/1: canned-stuff. Commercial smoking opium, put in tins.
1959		J.E. Schmidt Narcotics Lingo and Lore.

canned willie (n.)

(US) tinned corned beef.

1899		letter in Dly Times (New Brunswick, NJ) 7 Oct. 5/3: I have only been chewing hard tack and ‘canned willie,’ that is, canned roast bef and canned corned beef.
1908		Denton (MD) Journal 24 Oct. 1/7: Canned beef is known as ‘canned Willie,’ and a bottle of liquor is a ‘dog’.
1917		Batchelder Watching and Waiting on The Border 30: Coffee, either ‘canned Willie’ (canned beef), beans, or ‘slum’ (stew), and hard-tack formed the usual menu.
1918		letter in K.F. Cowing Dear Folks at Home (1919) 78: We live on canned Willie and raw bacon and hardtack.
1922		N.Y. Tribune 13 Aug. 59/3: Fishermen caught sixty-five pounds of game bass, which obviated the necessity of eating ‘canned willie’.
1944		H.B. Hersey G.I. Laughs 185: ‘Lippy’ Lippman, the bugler, who could swing ‘Mess Call’ and make your mouth water for canned willie.