Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a dilapidated old car, aeroplane or ship.

1919		H.C. Witwer Smile A Minute 286: So you fin’ly got rid of the old tin can, hey?
1923		H.C. Witwer Fighting Blood 30: The old tin can never traveled so fast in its life.
1933		Nicholson & Robinson Sailor Beware! I i: [of a ship] Kee-rice, it’s great to be back on this tin can again.
1937		R. Westerby Wide Boys Never Work (1938) 48: A better job than driving those tin cans of Chantrey’s about.
1967		(con. 1940s) M. Dibner Admiral (1968) 256: ‘What ship?’ ‘Kearny. A tin can.’.
1972		(con. 1916) G. Swarthout Tin Lizzie Troop (1978) 207: Now we settle the argument once for all – horse or flivver! I say those tin cans won’t roll a mile before they fall apart.
1980		M. Melamu ‘Bad Times, Sad Times’ in Mutloatse Forced Landing 53: I’ve been forced to mess around with Mthembu’s fuckin’ rotten tin-can the whole morning.
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 113/1: tin can old and noisy motorcar, often ‘tin-can on wheels.’.
1992		G. Disher Paydirt [ebook] [H]e hated the thought of driving some old tin can.
2003		J. Bradley Flyboys (2004) 6: [of an airplane] Climbing into 1940s-era tin cans with bombs strapped below their feet, they hurtled off.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].
2009		J. Stahl Pain Killers 32: [of a caravan] My tin can was plopped on soiled dirt.
2021		P. Papathanasiou Stoning 25: [T]hose cars were tin cans beside his Val.
2023		R. Milward Man-Eating Typewriter 104: As tin-cans go, ms hippocampus was surely grander than Yuri’s [i.e. USSR space man Yuri Gagarin].
2024		D. Swierczynski California Bear 260: Jack wasn’t looking forward to the hour drive out to Ventura County in this tin can.

2. (US milit.) a destroyer; also attrib.

1927		Danville (VA) Bee 27 May 3/1: The U. S. Navy has a language or a ‘slanguage’ all its own. [...] Destroyers are ‘tin cans.’.
1944		H. Hunt East of Farewell 138: When I go down with this tin can I’ll know why it happened. [Ibid.] 138: Wake up, tin-can sailor,’ he said cheerfully.
1953		L. Uris Battle Cry (1964) 429: They’ll be evacuating you to the tin can in a couple minutes.

3. (US Und.) a safe; thus tin-opener, an implement for opening a safe.

1921		P. & T. Casey Gay-cat 83: Hurry up, Scar-face! Rush it, man! Don’t take all night on a tin can like that!
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 239: tin can A safe easy to open.
1956		R.T. Hopkins Banker Tells All 136: The Lord Chief Justice [...] asked Caseley how the expert cracksman tested a safe. ‘Why you see,’ replied Caseley, with the superior air of the specialist, ‘we first try a large tin-opener. This is a steel bar with a cutting knife on one end of it.’.
1969		B. Jackson Thief’s Primer 60: tin can: cheap safe made of thin metal.

4. a tank.

1958

(con. 1945) F. Davis Spearhead 19: I’ve fought these tin cans all the way from Villiers-Fossard.

5. the head.

2011

J.J. Connolly Viva La Madness 51: ‘How is the old tin can these days’ [....] ‘Coming back to life, Mort’.