tomato can, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

tomato can n.

1. (US) the badge worn by a local or small-town police officer [the cheapness of its manufacture].

[1899		Ade Fables in Sl. (1902) 44: He went out to the Alley and found a Tomato Can that was not working, and he waited].
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).

2. a second rate boxer [he is easily crushed].

1977		P. Hamill Flesh and Blood (1978) 174: I hope he ain’t a tomato can. [Ibid.] 178: They say he’s a tank artist, a tomato can, a guy who goes in the water for a few bucks, and that he was a good fighter once, a long time ago.
2012		(con. 1954) ‘Jack Tunney’ Tomato Can Comeback [ebook] Tomato can being slang for a palooka who bled like a stuck pig; or got beat to a pulp.
2017		T. Pluck on Twitter 16 Mar. 🌐 Fighting has certain a purity, if you’re mediocre you train harder, become a tomato can, or get a promoter who sets you up with cream puffs.

tomato-can vag (n.) (also can moocher, tomato can stiff, tomato-can tramp)

(US tramp) the lowest rank of vagrant.

1899		J. Flynt Tramping with Tramps 119: If he is a victim of liquor, and lives long enough, he is sure to end as a tomato-can tramp. [Ibid.] 398: Tomato-Can Vag [...] a tramp of the lowest order, who drains the dregs of a beer barrel into an empty tomato-can and drinks them.
1903		St Louis Republican (MO) 30 Aug. 52/2: I don’t want to see you turn out a tomato can vag. You’re the flyest kid I ever trained.
1921		P. & T. Casey Gay-cat 304: Tomato-Can Vag — the hobo outcast. So called because he empties beer-barrel dregs into a tomato-can and drinks them.
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 46: Can Moocher.– A tramp or bum, filthy, lost to hope and ambition and often demented, an exile from everything worth while. Originally the tomato can was used as a container into which were drained the dregs from beer kegs outside of saloons ; later the same receptacle came to be used as a catch-all for begged or salvaged food. [Ibid.] 189: Tomato Can Stiff.– One of the lowest bums, looked down upon by those of the fraternity who are as yet able to hold their own.
1932		F. Jennings Tramping with Tramps 212: Tomato Can Tramps – those who curl up anywhere.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 224/2: Tomato can vag. A hobo, especially one with enough experience to cook good mulligan stew in a gallon tomato can over a bonfire.