Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also cannister) the vagina.

1771		R. King New London Spy 51: That valuable member of society [...] who sells preservative instrument-cases of all sizes, at the sign of the Green Canister.
1786		Burns ‘The Court of Equity’ Merry Muses of Caledonia (1965) 212: An’ gied her canister a rattle.
a.1796		‘The Court of Equity’ in Farmer Merry Songs and Ballads (1897) IV 284: For aft clandestinely up-whirlin’ / The petticoats o’ Maggie Borlan’, / And gien her cannister a rattle.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

2. (also brain canister, cannister) the head.

1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (3rd edn) n.p.: Cannister. The head. To mill his cannister; to break his head.
1818		W. Perry London Guide 226: This, although a lie, puzzled his cannister.
1821		J. Burrowes Life in St George’s Fields 8: She had a bit of a turn-up with a poor Pie-man, whom she so belabored over the canister with a poker.
1824		J. Wight Mornings in Bow St. 50: The short gentleman with his bamboo [...] laid about him lustily — ribs, cannisters, or lanterns, it was all one to him.
1832		Egan Bk of Sports 158: The cook let his fists whack on the Mussaulchee’s cannister.
1838		W.N. Glascock Land Sharks and Sea Gulls II 104: I’ve just as good a chance o’ gettin’ a hole bored in my cannister without as you ’ave within.
1844		Tom Cladpole’s Jurney to Lunnun 14: I felt some liddle twitches; And what de think? ’twas sumb’dys han, A grabben at my britches! [...] I was plaguy crass, I sed I’d split he’s canister.
1848		‘Epistle from Joe Muggins’s Dog’ in Era (London) 13 Aug. 3/3: Down it [i.e. water] cam on both our cannisters.
1855		(con. 1837) Fights for the Championship 356: Swift [...] planted left and right on the canister.
1857		Bell’s Life in Victoria (Melbourne) 16 May 4/4: Thorpe [...] succeeded in getting slightly on the brain canister.
1859, 1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1882		Bristol Magpie 29 June 18/1: Away went the [cricket] ball about ther cannisters or ther shins.
1888		H. King Savage London 142: O, but he wur beef-headed. I’d have punched his canister, that I would, to drive some sense into it.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 14: Canister, the head (pugilistic).
1939		V. Davis Gentlemen of the Broad Arrows 206: I shouldn’t have knocked the wicket down if I hadn’t been hit on the canister.
2000		J.J. Connolly Layer Cake 13: It obviously helps if you ain’t out of the old canister all the fuckin time.
2004		(con. 1990s) N. ‘Razor’ Smith A Few Kind Words and a Loaded Gun 392: ‘Try anything iffy with us, and I’ll put a bullet right through your canister,’ he said.
2011		J.J. Connolly Viva La Madness 144: Sonny and Roy agree that he was not right in the canister.

3. (Aus.) an insult (poss. ref. to sense 1).

1854

Bell’s Life in Sydney 30 Dec. 2/7: She denied on oath having called him a cannister; she did call him a Chinaman.

4. a hat.

1887		in G.D. Atkin House Scraps 58: Turning round, I saw my unfortunate beaver, or ‘canister’ as it was called by the gentry who had it in their keeping.
1914		Dundee Courier 3 Mar. 8/1: The Hat in Slang [...] A by no means exhaustive list would include ‘tile,’ ‘golgotha,’ ‘canister,’ ‘castor,’ ‘chimney,’ ‘colleger,’ ‘cock and pinch,’ ‘cowshooters,’ ‘david,’ ‘digger’s delight,’ ‘fantail,’ ‘gomer,’ ‘goss,’ ‘moab,’ ‘molocher,’ ‘muffin cap,’ ‘mushroom,’ ‘pill box,’ ‘stove pipe,’ ‘thatch,’ ‘truck,’ and ‘wee jee’.

5. (US) a watch.

1904		Number 1500 Life In Sing Sing 247: Canister. A watch.
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 46: Canister. – A watch, probably from the correct usage, ‘a small box ’.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).

6. (US Und., also cannister) a revolver.

1906		A.H. Lewis Confessions of a Detective 26: Hold off! He’s pulled his cannister; an’ if you crowd him he’s framed it up to do Red.
1914		Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Sl. 22: canister [...] in use amongst crooks who resort to the use of weapons, denoting a firearm. Example: ‘He’ll stick his hands up if you flash the canister.’.
1915		Wodehouse Psmith Journalist (1993) 259: They carry ‘cannisters’ and sometimes fire them off.
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 46: Canister. – [...] among older yeggs, a revolver, in which sense the reference is to the case shot used by artillery.
1939		Howsley Argot: Dict. of Und. Sl.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 40/1: Canister. 1. A pistol or revolver.
1952		C. Hamilton Men of the Und. 320: Canister, [...] 2. A revolver.
1960, 1975		(ref. to 1920s) Wentworth & Flexner DAS.

7. (US Und.) a jail.

1914		Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Sl. 22: canister [...] Current chiefly amongst prison habitues. A prison.
1952		C. Hamilton Men of the Und. 320: Canister, 1. A jail.
1960		(con. 1950-1960) R.A. Freeman Dict. Inmate Sl. (Walla Walla, WA) 24: Canister – a jail.
1960		(con. 1950-1960) R.A. Freeman Dict. Inmate Sl. (Walla Walla, WA) : .

8. (US Und.) a lookout.

1924

G. Henderson Keys to Crookdom 409: Lookout. [...] Canister, gay-cat spotter.

9. (US) a safe or bank vault.

1933		Ersine Und. and Prison Sl.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 40/1: Canister. 2. A jail, a safe, or a container of any kind made of metal.