can

Meanings

Verb

• To know how to; to be able to.
• May; to be permitted or enabled to.
• To have the potential to; be possible.
• To know.
• To seal in a can.
• To preserve by heating and sealing in a jar or can.
• To discard, scrap or terminate (an idea, project, etc.).
• To shut up.
• To fire or dismiss an employee.
• To hole the ball.
• To cover (the fuel element in a nuclear reactor) with a protective cover.

Noun

• A more or less cylindrical vessel for liquids, usually of steel or aluminium, but sometimes of plastic, and with a carrying handle over the top.
• A container used to carry and dispense water for plants (a watering can).
• A tin-plate canister, often cylindrical, for preserved foods such as fruit, meat, or fish.
• A chamber pot, now a toilet or lavatory.
• Buttocks.
• Jail or prison.
• Headphones.
• A drinking cup.
• A cube-shaped buoy or marker used to denote a port-side lateral mark
• A chimney pot.
• An E-meter used in Scientology auditing.
• An ounce (or sometimes, two ounces) of marijuana.
• A protective cover for the fuel element in a nuclear reactor.

Related

Similar words

• tin

Origin

• From Middle English can, first and third person singular of connen, cunnen, from Old English cann, first and third person singular of cunnan, from Proto-Germanic *kunnaną, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- (whence know). Compare West Frisian kinne, Dutch kunnen, Low German könen, German können, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål kunne, Swedish and Norwegian Nynorsk kunna, and Afrikaans kan. con. See also: canny, cunning.
• From Middle English canne, from Old English canne ("glass, container, cup, can"), from Proto-Germanic *kannǭ ("can, tankard, mug, cup"), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *gan-, *gandʰ-. Cognate with Scots can ("can"), West Frisian kanne ("a jug, pitcher"), Dutch kan ("pot, mug"), German Kanne ("can, tankard, mug"), Danish kande ("can, mug, a measure"), Swedish kanna ("can, tankard, mug"), Icelandic kanna ("a can").