Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. an unpleasant person.

1925		Black Mask Aug. III 16: I can’t have this ash-can on my heels the rest of the day.
1932		(con. 1910s) J.T. Farrell Young Lonigan in Studs Lonigan (1936) 59: She was a sweet kid [...] not an old ash can like Helen Borax.
1934		B. Appel Brain Guy (1937) 242: The ash-cans and kids in two armies.
1944		D. Runyon Runyon à la Carte 49: I will first make this big ash can eat that cannon he is lugging and then I will beat his skull in.
1966		M. Rumaker Exit 3 and Other Stories 95: It’s Ashcan Annie, the crackpot millionaire!

2. a small but powerful firecracker, its explosive effects intensified by the layer of tinfoil in which it is wrapped.

1923		H.C. Witwer Fighting Blood 64: I’m gonna slap you for a Chinese ash can and send you back to that slab in Jersey on a shutter!
1987		M. McAlary Buddy Boys 183: Some Buddy Boys also carried ash cans—small but powerful fireworks—which they would light and slip through mail slots, literally bombing people out of their apartments.

3. the buttocks [note can n.¹ (1b)].

1931

Wesley Wilson & Harry McDaniels [song title] She Shakes a Mean Ashcan.

4. the vagina [note can n.¹ (1a)].

c.1930

Bob Clifford ‘Ash Can Blues’ 🎵 She said I could haul her ashes better than any other man, / She said I could sow my seed anytime in her ash can.

5. a shell; a bomb.

1929		L. Thomas Woodfill of the Regulars 228: Atta boy, give ’im another ash can!
1937		F.C. Painton ‘The Devil Must Pay’ in Goodstone Pulps (1970) 22: Gore dropped no more thermite ashcans.
1943		M. Curtiss Letters Home (1944) 15 May 20: Submarines were caught trailing us and all the ships just dropped ‘ash-cans’ galore.

6. business, affair.

1947

C. Willingham End as a Man (1952) 166: ‘Don’t let me interfere,’ said Munro. ‘It’s none of my ash can.’.

7. a car.

1954

Oh Boy! No. 23 8: Good thing I parked my own ash-can near by.