canned heat, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

canned heat n.

1. (US) a form of crude alcohol, intended for heating purposes but drunk, as is methylated spirits, by down-and-out alcoholics who can afford nothing better; thus canned heater, canned-heat stiff, one who drinks such alcohol.

1917		Report State Mineralogist Calif. 42: A small ‘sterno,’ or a ‘Canned Heat’ outfit, is very compact and convenient for a quick lunch [DA].
1926		J. Black You Can’t Win (2000) 130: The wine dumps are gone [...] And so are the winos gone. In their places have appeared the Jamaica ginger fiend, the canned heat and wood alcohol drinker.
1936		K. Mackenzie Living Rough 254: You’d better cut it out before it really gets you or you’ll wind up like most of them, a mission or a canned-heat stiff.
1937		E. Anderson Thieves Like Us (1999) 20: The Indians were buying their canned heat at the five & ten.
1941		J.K. Butler ‘Saint in Silver’ in Goulart (1967) 58: A place to get drunk [...] on rubbing-alcohol and canned heat.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 43: canned heater A drinker of solidified denatured alcohol.
1951		‘Sukahachee and Pompom and Korean Saki’ in Banglestien’s Bar n.p.: Those nights on the hills they were colder than ice, / So some canned heat they gave us and we thought it was nice.
1953		‘John Eagle’ Hoodlums (2021) 38: Big Gump’s Sterno gang [...] the canned heaters, as they were called.
1955		P. Rabe Benny Muscles In (2004) 253: There was a syringe in there, extra needles, a spoon, and a tin of canned heat.
1957		C. Himes Imabelle 10: Sleeping in doorways, drinking canned heat to keep warm.
1965		C. Himes Rage in Harlem (1969) 11: [as 1957].
1980		(ref. to c.1930s) R.A. Bruns Knights of the Road 201: Canned heater. One who drank a deadly potion of cheap alcohol and water.
1991		(con. 1920s) O.D. Brooks Legs 71: The only men in the west jungle were four canned-heaters, who were wringing alcohol from four cans of sterno through a dirty red bandana.

2. attrib. use of sense 1.

1940

J. Archibald ‘No PLace Like Homicide’ in Popular Detective Apr. 🌐 The ancient wardrobe that leaned against the wall like a canned-heat drunk.