can n.1
1. as a ‘hollow’ part of the body.
(a) the vagina.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Miseries of an Enforced Marriage Act III: In troth, sister, we two to beg in the fields, / And you to betake yourself of the old trade, / Filling of small cans in the suburbs. | |
 | Strange Newes from Bartholomew-Fair 2: To entice young punys, I lye as open as Noonday, sit down at the dore, set one foot to the right, the other to the left, as far distant as I can spread my imperfect Limbs, and cry Lads: here’s a can of the best liquor in the fair, claping my hand on my market-place. | |
| ‘The Sentiment Song’ in Songs Comic and Satyrical 125: Here’s the Down Bed of Beauty which upraises Man, And beneath the Thatch’d-House the miraculous Can. | |
| Satirist (London) 8 July 223/2: None but the man that fills the can / Deserves the lass wot lushes oh! | |
| ‘The Chapter of Smutty Toasts’ in Icky-Wickey Songster 8: Here’s the thatched house, the miraculous can! | |
| Sl. and Its Analogues. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | ‘Smokey’ [comic strip] in Tijuana Bibles (1997) 38: Shove that can baby. I going to unload. | |
| Far from the Customary Skies 39: Oh, fiddle, fiddle, fiddle / While you can, / Before she lurns to sell ’er can. |
(b) (US) the buttocks; the anus; also used generically for the whole person (see cite 1952).
| Zone Policeman 88 113: I come near catchin’ the brat up by the feet an’ beatin’ its can off. | |
| Front Page Act II: I don’t know, getting my can blown off. | |
| ‘Shakin’ the African’ 🎵 Better than the Black Bottom, boys, it’s really in there! / It started up here, too! / Oh, shakin’ that Afro-can! | |
| Big Con 141: All he has to do is sit around on his can. | |
| Catcher in the Rye (1958) 75: I have my hand on your back. If I think there isn’t anything underneath my hand – no can, no legs, no feet, no anything – then the girl’s really a terrific dancer. | |
| Redemption in G. Feldman (ed.) Protest (1960) 118: You’re really in luck, son[...] The lady you stole the stuff from doesn’t want to put your can in jail. | |
| I Love You Honey, But the Season’s Over 143: He’s lookin’ for a business partner, not somebody to sit on her can in Sarasota sewin’ curtains. | |
| Cunning Linguist (1973) 121: ‘Angry? I could kick your can all over this forest’. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Ridgey-Didge Oz Jack Lang 23: Can: (Park The) Sit down, park the carcase. | |
| Dolores Claiborne 10: Nor was he gonna [...] change her diapers and wipe the shit off her fat old can. | |
| Roger’s Profanisaurus in Viz 87 Dec. n.p.: can US n. Bottom. | |
| Mad mag. July 36: These aren’t the rules of kick the can, Dylan. Never said which can I have to kick. |
(c) (US) used as a euph. for ass n. (2) in various senses, e.g. pain in the can, flatter the can off etc.
| ‘Landmarks’ Sporting Times 12 Nov. 2/2: I must have been what some folks call a ‘can,’ [...] when I listened to you. | |
| Pikes Peek or Bust 68: ‘If you try to open at the Rendezvous [...] there’ll be a couple of boys at the ringside that’ll blow your can off’. | |
| Pimp 120: They were flirting their ‘cans’ off. | |
| Bonfire of the Vanities 462: ‘You got any a those things they take the cans off the shelf in the supermarket with?’ ‘Yeah, I got some [...] and I’m gonna take your can off.’. |
(d) (Aus./US) the human head.
| ‘Terms Of Disparagement’ in DN IV:iii 198: can, head. ‘I’ll bust your can, if you don’t look out.’. | |
| ‘The Faltering Knight’ in Chisholm (1951) 71: It knocks me can in, this ’ere game uv life. | |
| Rough Stuff 92: I didn’t try to pull any sob-stuff on this dick, if I had he would have torn my can (head) off. | |
| ‘Trouble Is My Business’ in Spanish Blood (1946) 174: I make money without getting my can knocked off. | |
| , | | DAS. |
| Viva La Madness 311: No mercy. Two [bullets] in the can. |
(e) the mouth.
| (con. 1912) George Brown’s Schooldays 186: I thought I told you not to open your can about that filthy swot. |
2. (US) a bomb; thus can-maker, a bomb-maker.
| (con. 1914–18) Three Lights from a Match 113: Shells clanged. Spike tried to keep on, but after a few of those G.I. cans had burst near enough to throw dirt on him, he gave up and lay in the ditch. | |
| It’s a Racket! 221: can maker — One who manufactures bombs, especially nitroglycerine, black powder, or stench bombs. | |
| [ | | (con. 1860s) Life of Johnny Reb 302: Canister consisted of a large group of small balls inclosed in a cylindrical tin cover, or ‘can’ [...] they rained death upon the advancing foe]. |
| Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 42: can [...] a bomb [...] can maker A bomb maker. |
3. by meton., a barman.
| Hooligan Nights 22: Nod to the can — which is the local term for the barman. |
4. as a room, place or container.
(a) a small room, e.g. in a hotel.
| Daily Trib. (Bismarck, ND) 23 Oct. 4/1: A hotel is a ‘chuck mill’ or ‘hashery’; a small room is a ‘can.’. |
(b) (US) a water closet, a lavatory.
| N.E. Police Gaz. (Boston, MA) 18 Aug. 7/2: The little nigger gal who lives in the shanty can. | |
| ‘College Words and Phrases’ in DN II:i 26: can, n. Water-closet. | |
| Vocab. Criminal Sl. 22: can [...] a lavatory, toilet, urinal. | |
| Enormous Room (1928) 48: ‘The can stinks.’ They did not smile and said, ‘Naturally.’. | |
| 25 Oct. diary in Aaron (1985) 387: Evelyn has been searching all morning for a room for Eddie, one [...] not too many stairs up, near ‘the can’. | |
| They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? in Four Novels (1983) 32: Not even the girls can go to the can when she’s around. | |
| Life in a Putty Knife Factory (1948) 144: It is, beyond doubt, the biggest and most magnificent can on earth – a veritable Taj Mahal of toilets. | |
| Catcher in the Rye (1958) 31: I went down to the can and chewed the rag with him while he was shaving. | |
| Limericks 42: For the can was so cold / And when one grows old [etc]. | |
| Shake Him Till He Rattles (1964) 12: They’d turned on in the can before they left The Hoof, going with the last joint they had between them. | |
| Plender [ebook] Spent hours in the can with it [i.e. a lingerie catalogue]. | |
| (con. 1940s) Tattoo (1977) 47: He tried to imagine her going to the can like everyone else. | |
| Brown’s Requiem 58: Stan The Man moved from his perch at the jukebox and walked back to the can. | |
| Native Tongue 219: I’m in the can. | |
| (con. 1986) Sweet Forever 58: He [...] had a few drags off a cigarette, then went and had a seat on the can. | |
| Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit 40: Kissin the ground [...] that’s just nasty [...] It be like kissing the can in my own house! |
(c) a prison, a police station lock-up; as generic can, imprisonment.
| Vocab. Criminal Sl. 22: can [...] A place of confinement; a prison; a cell. | |
| Hop-Heads 25: Whenever I get a ‘jolt’ in the can (county jail) they make me ‘kick out’ my habit in the ‘tanks’. | |
| You Can’t Win (2000) 157: We were then taken down to the city ‘can’ where they searched us thoroughly. | |
| ‘Dream Street Rose’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 48: Coppers are always heaving her into the old can. | |
| Sun. Mail (Brisbane) 13 Nov. 20/8: The watch house is the ‘can;’ detectives are ‘demons’ and plain-clothesmen are ‘bulls’. | |
| Cry Tough! 4: Then there were the other boys [...] All in the can. | |
| in Sun. Herald (Sydney) 8 June 9/4: Among American borrowings recorded in Detective Doyle's list are: ‘Blow,’ to depart, go away; ‘boob’ and ‘can,’ gaol; ‘black stuff,’ opium. | |
| Tough Guy [ebook] Legs Diamond dead, Waxey Gordon in the can, with only Dutch Schultz still raising a stink. | |
![[Can]](/static/img/flags/can.png "Canada") | Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1964) 108: The cops took the kid into the can. | |
| Last Exit to Brooklyn 33: The next thing ya know the lawll be knockin on my door and I’ll be back in the can. | |
| ‘Dillon Explained That He Was Frightened’ in N. Amer. Rev. Fall 43/2: So one night the Marshals come by one night and back he goes, parole violation. Drinking, too. I tell you, those two women preached that guy right back into the can. | |
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | Big Huey 16: If I was nicked for this [i.e. heroin dealing] I was looking at big heaps of can. | |
| Doing Time 187: can: prison. | |
| Goodfellas [film script] 48: Jeannie’s husband went to the can just to get away from her [...] Nobody goes to jail unless they want to. | |
| Grand Central Winter (1999) 124: Being in the can, it seems, was just the grist Richard needed for his muse. | |
| Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] : can n. a prison. | |
| Pound for Pound 50: A stern ‘Tex-Mex’ judge [...] promised him some time in el bote, the can. | |
| Last Kind Words 23: [M]y grandfather and his brother, who were starting to learn what to do in order to stay out of the can. | |
| ‘Hookahs’ 🎵 My nigga got guilty, he's stressing / [...] / my niggas dem locked in the can. | |
| Scrublands [ebook] Lucie wanted to throw him in the can and sweat him. | |
| Opal Country 208: ‘I wanted to put him in the can, sweat him’. | |
| ‘Fraud’ 🎵 Bro got sent can, and he came hom? tapped. |
(d) (US Und.) a still.
| Phila. Eve. Bulletin 5 Oct. 40/3: Here are a few more terms and definitions from the ‘Racket’ vocabulary: [...] ‘Can,’ a still. | |
| (con. 1950-1960) Dict. Inmate Sl. (Walla Walla, WA) 23: Can – a still. |
(e) (US Und.) a safe.
| ‘Dict. Und.’ in Flynn’s mag. cited in Partridge DU (1949). | |
| ‘Cemetery Bait’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 519: I start seeking the small can, or safe, that I know is concealed in a clothes closet. | |
| Criminal Sl. (rev. edn). | |
| Rap Sheet 81: He worked fast and probably cut his par time for busting into a can by at least two minutes. | |
| , | | DAS. |
| He who Shoots Last 48: Wrecker, whose livelihood depended on his ability to open a can faster than any tin opener. | |
| (con. 1940s–60s) Straight from the Fridge Dad 24: Busting a can Cracking a safe. |
(f) (US Und.) a bank.
| Und. Speaks 18/1: Can, [...] a bank. |
(g) (US) a shipping container.
| ‘Collateral Damage’ Wire ser. 2 ep. 1 [TV script] What does the Marine Unit have to do with a bunch of dead girls in a can? |
5. in the context of drugs.
(a) a 5oz (140g) container of opium.
| Heathen Chinee 31: Chinese smoking opium [...] comes in small tin boxes holding about four ounces, and worth from $7.75 to $8.30 a can. | |
| ‘Life in a New York Opium Den’ in Professional Criminals of America 🌐 It is imported from China in an oblong brass box about five inches long, two and a half wide. The can is only half filled, as in warm weather it puffs up and would overflow the can if allowance was not made for this swelling. | |
| Darkness and Daylight in N.Y. 571: The best quality of this sells for eight dollars and twenty-five cents a can. | |
| Actors’ Boarding House (1906) 196: There’s a lot of sufferin’ [...] with hop goin’ to fifteen bones a can, ’stead of seven. | |
| God’s Man 175: A can of it [i.e. opium] used to sell for five dollars – five dollars for less than a pound. | |
| Black Mask Aug. III 54: Neatly piled on it was an opium smoking outfit, together with a can of ‘Mud’. | |
| Underground Dict. (1972). |
(b) a 1oz (28g) container of opium.
| Helena (MT) Indep. 19 Nov. 7/4: The consignment [...] was the largest [...] in many years in the west, Mr. Cass said after checking the 57 one-ounce cans of opium. | |
| Und. Speaks 18/1: Can broker, opium trafficker. |
(c) 1oz (28g) of morphine.
| Und. and Prison Sl. | |
| Criminal Sl. (rev. edn). | |
| Narcotics Lingo and Lore. |
(d) approx. 1oz (28g) of marijuana.
| newspaper report 1 Jan. in Joint (1972) 37: Blake confessed ownership of a small can of the narcotic. | |
| Pimp 127: I want a sixteenth of ‘girl’ and a can of reefer. | |
| (con. 1950s) Whoreson 139: Cop me half a can of weed. | |
| Runnin’ Down Some Lines 170: Man, in them olden days you could score a match. No more. Don’t even see no more can or lid! | |
| Mr Blue 115: $1 a joint, three joints for $2, or a can (a Prince Albert can at that) for $10. | |
| ONDCP Street Terms 5: Can — Marijuana; 1 ounce. |
(e) (Aus.) a phial of morphine, sufficient for a single injection.
| Big Huey 13: It’s [i.e. morphine] really good shit, man. [...] You can have it for five bucks a can. |
6. a pocket.
| A. Mutt in Blackbeard Compilation (1977) 159: Why kick with 418 bones left in the can. | |
| Keys to Crookdom 414: Purse, poke, leather, sock, can. |
7. as vehicles.
In phrases
(US) to dismiss from a job or relationship.
| Argus-Leader (Sioux falls, SD) 1 Nov. 22/2: ‘Where’s Violet?’ [...] ‘I gave her the can,’ said Charlie. |
(a) (US) a dilapidated, run-down, malfunctioning vehicle, incl. a ship.
| [ | | in Zwilling TAD Lex. (1993) 24: This is about a friend of mine who sent for a flivver car [...] Well he sent 10 milk cans to the flivver factory and told ’em to send back a car. They sent him a car and a check for $12 saying he had sent too many cans.]. |
| in Zwilling TAD Lex. (1993) 24: Did you see that old can of his outside? | |
| Death Ship 4: I was not mate on this can, not even bos’n. I was just a plain sailor. | |
| ‘The Three Wise Guys’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 405: I come to be riding around in an old can. | |
| Decade 325: I borrowed this can from one of the iron riggers. Some crazy crate, huh? | |
| Last Man Off Wake Island 197: We had the company of another vessel on the voyage to Hawaii, both of us under escort of a ‘can’ — disrespectful term for destroyer. | |
| Drugs from A to Z (1970) 56: can (1) a car. |
(b) a plane.
| Mister Roberts II v: They’re landing planes at Okinawa and that’s where my can is. |
In derivatives
(Aus.) a prison sentence.
| Tell Morning This 201: ‘[Y]ou’ll be doing your little canful at Barmeadow. |
In compounds
(US, mainly Chicago) a brothel.
| ‘A Casual Incident’ in Short Stories (1937) 145: ‘I don’t like can houses,’ the kid said. ‘A young fellow, he got to have girls.’. | |
| (con. 1910s) Young Lonigan in Studs Lonigan (1936) 57: There’s a can house around on Fifty-seventh Street. | |
| ‘Comedy Cop’ in Fellow Countrymen (1937) 421: ‘Me, I’d like to go to a can-house.’ ‘I’m laying off that. I’m a married man, and I love my wife.’. | |
| Really the Blues 22: The Roamer Inn was like a model of all the canhouses I ever saw around Chicago. | |
| Real Jazz Old and New xi: The whole Storyville era when jazz grew up in the canhouses of New Orleans [W&F]. | |
| (con. 1910s) Sometimes I Wonder 36: Playing can-house music wasn’t too healthy for a young man trying to fnd himself. | |
| (con. mid-late 19C) Wilder Shore 216: As for the can houses, [...] the husbands are staying so close to their wives like they were first maried. | |
| ‘Urban Word Geog.’ AS XLVI:1/2 77: [H]ouse of prostitution [...] can house. |
see separate entry.
In phrases
(US prison) to escape from jail.
| ‘The Dealer Gets It All’ in Hobo’s Hornbook 152: Then Alton he got busy, and produced a fancy briar, / And we crushed the can at midnight, and decked an eastbound flyer. | |
| Criminal Sl. (rev. edn). |
(US) at the end of one’s resources; highly impoverished.
| Hoodlums (2021) 7: Why was he flat on his can? Without money, without a car, barely able to scrape four dollars for the meeting with Jeannie today. |
(US) to be dismissed from a job.
| Sorrows of a Show Girl Ch. x: The girls down at Wilbur’s show decided to give a beefsteak in honor of the prima donna getting the can. |
(US) to accept a bribe; to act in a corrupt manner.
| Dead Solid Perfect 45: Sports Illustrated would probably pay a lot of money for a story about how somebody on the golf tour used to be a hustler who went in the can and intentionally lost a lot of amateur tournaments. | |
| Life Its Ownself (1985) 88: Vegas says somebody went in the can every time there’s an upset. Vegas thinks World War Two was fixed! |
(US) sexually aroused.
| Crimson Hairs 89: She took me over her lap and put some vaseline on her finger and gave me a long massage [in the anus]. By the way, she always liked to do that before she sent one of her girls into a room with a man. She claimed that it gets them hot in the can and makes them work good . |
(orig. US) ejected unceremoniously, thrown out.
| Bessie Cotter 6: She’d throw Violet right out on her can if she found out. |
see under swap v.
see under sweat v.2
In exclamations
(Aus.) stop talking!
| Digger Dialects 26: give your can a chance! — See ‘kennel-up’. |
a general excl. of disdain, dismissal, arrogant contempt.
| Racket Act II: Guts, my can! |
(US) shut up! be quiet!
| Blackhawk Howitzer 50: Shut your – can! [HDAS]. |
SE in slang uses
In compounds
(US) a party devoted to drinking beer.
| How the Other Half Lives 38: A man lies dead in the hospital who was cut to pieces in a ‘can racket’ in the alley on Sunday. [Ibid.] 226: Once pitched upon, its occupation by the gang, with its ear-mark of nightly symposiums, ‘can rackets’ in the slang of the street, is the signal for the rapid deterioration of the tenement, if that is possible. |
In phrases
(Irish) a term of abuse.
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | Everyday Eng. and Sl. 🌐 Can of piss (n): derogatory term i.e. ‘You’re some can of piss’. |
(orig. naut.) to take the blame that should be another’s, to do the ‘dirty work’; esp. as left carrying the can.
| Sea Sl. | |
| Sharpe of the Flying Squad 333: ‘taking the can back’: Being left to do the dirty work. | |
| Spiv’s Progress 173: I do all the work and you sit back and take the profit. I take the can back . | |
| Roll On My Twelve 72: Something did go wrong, and little Roddy’ll carry the can. | |
| (con. 1940s) Borstal Boy 55: He couldn’t take the can back if it happened again. | |
| Breaking of Bumbo (1961) 65: It is impossible to get hold of the Commanding Officer [...] Bumbo decides to carry the can himself. | |
| (con. WW2) London E1 (2012) 143: Blind Billy’s got it all worked out so ’e won’t carry the can back. | |
| ‘Prisoner and Escort’ in Cockade (1965) I iii: You dropped old Smiler in it. He carried the can. | |
| All Bull 112: He was concerned with the here and now, for which he, poor man, carried the can. | |
| Breaking Out 340: I don’t fancy a nice well-meaning bloke like you having to carry the shit-can for all this. | |
| Auf Wiedersehen Pet Two 249: Neville’s turn to carry the can ... | |
| Godson 338: As usual Les had been left to carry the can. | |
| Between the Devlin 9: ‘They’ll let the other mob carry the can for a while’. | |
| Observer Business 22 Aug. 24: Carry the can. Most [...] lose out here, being prepared to sacrifice their staff rather than their own necks. | |
| Indian Express 22 May 🌐 They establish a portal; get an insane valuation, go public, and get money out. The people who will be left holding the can will be investors. | |
| Birthday 85: Only me to carry the can, except I jacked work in when the firm went bust. |
to fetch beer from a bar.
| St Louis Post-Dispatch (MO) 3 Dec. 17/7: ‘Chasing the can,’ ‘rolling the rock’ and ‘working the growler’ al mean sending the tin can down to the corner bar-room for beer. | |
| Two Summers Girls and I 72: I’d go after it, Roy, only it’s too early for any self-respecting youth to chase the can. | |
| Joey the Dreamer 132: You’ll have a bunch o’ coin, and you won’t chase the can or hit th’ bottle — ’r beat up yer wife. | |
| in Postal Record 83: My main duties in this joint were to help the half stewed editor look for his specs [...] and to chase the can for the foreman. |
(US) to go on a drinking spree.
| ‘Big Blonde’ in Penguin Dorothy Parker (1982) 200: ‘Once I had a gal,’ he said, ‘used to try and throw herself out of the window every time she got a can on. Jee-zuss’. |
(US) to drink or purchase drinks.
| Guilelmensian (Williams Coll.) 289: Harold’s room-mate was a Sophomore who puffed a T.D. and went to Ad. for the purpose of Hitting the Can. | |
| Pensacola Jrnl (FL) 6 Oct. 6/3: He’s been hittin’ the can — chasin’ the duck. |
(Aus.) to amaze, to astound.
| Mail (Adelaide) 17 Mar. 1s/5: An’ it knocked the Darriwella crowd’s can right in when they read [...] th’ Govnor and his offsider had [...] the most enjoyable time. |
(US) to beg in the street.
| Dark Ship 199: Other seamen were sent to Times Square to ‘rattle the can’ as they solicited contributions from the public. |
(US) to buy beer from a tavern and bring it home for drinking there (cf. rush the growler under growler n.3 ).
| N.Y. World 5 June 9: He was an adept at coaxing money out of a turnip – could stand up a ‘drunk’ on a dark night with the best of them – and when it came to ‘rushing the can’ there was no man on ‘de Hook’ who could rush it oftener or drink deeper or fight harder than he. | |
| Fables in Sl. (1902) 58: He learned to Chew Tobacco and Spit through his Teeth, shoot Craps and Rush the Can. | |
| Toothsome Tales Told in Sl. 105: During the exercises the can was rushed at intervals [...] at the expense of the philanthropic Estelle. | |
| Journal of Murder in Gaddis & Long (2002) 28: A bunch of town loafers were sitting around rushing the can and hitting the bottle. | |
| Milwaukee (WI) Daily Journal 18 July 2/3: You rushed the growler, the can or the pitcher [DA]. |
1. (US) to play an unpleasant trick on.
| Sun (NY) 24 Feb. 8/3: The game’s been tying a can to me since Dave Gideon was a $2 plunger. |
2. (also hang a can to, tie a can on, tie the can to) to reject or dismiss (a person).
| Girl Proposition 36: [She] wanted to know why, if Man was such a Bunch of Trouble, they were not willing to tie a Can to him. | |
| ‘The Low Brow’ in Big League (2004) 23: I gotta good notion to tie a can on you for the rest of the season. | |
| ‘The Phantom League’ in Ten-Thousand-Dollar Arm 172: Why did they tie the can to Homer Kennedy? [Ibid.] 200: I hope they tie the can to you so tight you’ll never be able to get it off. | |
| Gas-House McGinty 195: Boy, if I had a wife like Porky’s got [...] I’d tie the can to her. | |
| ‘Home Runyon’ in Sports Winners Feb. 🌐 Listen, boss [...] if you don’t tie the can to that dope’s tail I’m through! | |
| Dream Merchants 69: The rumor’s all over town that Ronsen’s tying a can to you. | |
| Vice Trap 36: Well, there it was. I had the old can tied to me. [Ibid.] 42: I just took the day off [...] He hung the can to me for it. | |
| Polo Grounds 114: Marvin Eugene Throneberry, the man whose initials were M.E.T., had the can tied to him by the Mets on May 9. | |
| Magic of Blood 103: If he didn’t like our work he’d have to tie a can to the both of us, because if you go, I go. |
3. to stop (an activity).
| Money in the Bank 163: Tie a can to the funny stuff, see? If I want to laugh, I’ll read the comic strip. |
to condemn, to reprimand.
| Torchy 163: He don’t dare tie the can to you without reportin’ higher up. | |
| Bodies are Dust (2019) [ebook] ‘I want an address; I got a number. It’s a private line.’ ‘And get the can tied to me? Nix’. |
(Aus.) to pay for a round of drinks.
| in DAUS (1993). |