can definition | Dictionary.com

can

1 [kan; unstressed kuh

auxiliary verb and verb, present singular 1st person can, 2nd can or (Archaic

) canst, 3rd can, present plural can; past singular 1st person could, 2nd could or (Archaic

) couldst, 3rd could, past plural could. For auxiliary verb: imperative, infinitive, and participles lacking. For verb (Obsolete): imperative can; infinitive can; past participle could; present participle cun⋅ning.

Use can in a Sentence

–auxiliary verb

1.	to be able to; have the ability, power, or skill to: She can solve the problem easily, I'm sure.

2.	to know how to: He can play chess, although he's not particularly good at it.

3.	to have the power or means to: A dictator can impose his will on the people.

4.	to have the right or qualifications to: He can change whatever he wishes in the script.

5.	may; have permission to: Can I speak to you for a moment?

6.	to have the possibility: A coin can land on either side.

–verb (used with object), verb (used without object)

7.	Obsolete. to know.

Origin:
bef. 900; ME, OE, pres. ind. sing. 1st, 3rd person of cunnan to know, know how; c. G, ON, Goth kann; see ken, know

Usage note:
Can¹ and may¹ are frequently but not always interchangeable in senses indicating possibility: A power failure can (or may) occur at any time. Despite the insistence by some, that can means only “to be able” and may means “to be permitted,” both are regularly used in seeking or granting permission: Can (or May) I borrow your tape recorder? You can (or may) use it tomorrow. Sentences using can occur chiefly in spoken English. May in this sense occurs more frequently in formal contexts: May I address the court, Your Honor? In negative constructions, can't or cannot is more common than may not: You can't have it today. I need it myself. The contraction mayn't is rare.
Can but and cannot but are formal and now somewhat old-fashioned expressions suggesting that there is no possible alternative to doing something. Can but is equivalent to can only: We can but do our best. Cannot but is the equivalent of cannot help but: We cannot but protest against these injustices. See also cannot, help.

can

2 [kan]

noun, verb, canned, can⋅ning.

–noun

1.	a sealed container for food, beverages, etc., as of aluminum, sheet iron coated with tin, or other metal: a can of soup.

2.	a receptacle for garbage, ashes, etc.: a trash can.

3.	a bucket, pail, or other container for holding or carrying liquids: water can.

4.	a drinking cup; tankard.

5.	a metal or plastic container for holding film on cores or reels.

6.	Slang: Usually Vulgar. toilet; bathroom.

7.	Slang. jail: He's been in the can for a week.

8.	Slang: Sometimes Vulgar. buttocks.

Military Slang.

a.	a depth charge.

b.	a destroyer.

–verb (used with object)

10.	to preserve by sealing in a can, jar, etc.

11.	Slang. to dismiss; fire.

12.	Slang. to throw (something) away.

13.	Slang. to put a stop to: Can that noise!

14.	to record, as on film or tape.

—Idioms

15.	carry the can, British and Canadian Slang. to take the responsibility.

16.	in the can, recorded on film; completed: The movie is in the can and ready for release.

Origin:
bef. 1000; ME, OE canne, c. G Kanne, ON kanna, all perh. < WGmc; cf. LL canna small vessel

Can.

Canada.

Canadian.

can.

canceled.

canon.

canto.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To can

can¹ (kān; kən when unstressed)

aux.v. Past tense could (kŏŏd)

1. Used to indicate physical or mental ability: I can carry both suitcases. Can you remember the war?
2. Used to indicate possession of a specified power, right, or privilege: The President can veto congressional bills.
3. Used to indicate possession of a specified capability or skill: I can tune the harpsichord as well as play it.
4. Used to indicate possibility or probability: I wonder if my long lost neighbor can still be alive. Such things can and do happen.
5. Used to indicate that which is permitted, as by conscience or feelings: One can hardly blame you for being upset.
6. Used to indicate probability or possibility under the specified circumstances: They can hardly have intended to do that.
1. Used to indicate possibility or probability: I wonder if my long lost neighbor can still be alive. Such things can and do happen.
2. Used to indicate that which is permitted, as by conscience or feelings: One can hardly blame you for being upset.
3. Used to indicate probability or possibility under the specified circumstances: They can hardly have intended to do that.
Usage Problem Used to request or grant permission: Can I be excused?

[Middle English, first and third person sing. present tense of connen, to know how, from Old English cunnan; see gnō- in Indo-European roots.]

Usage Note: Generations of grammarians and teachers have insisted that can should be used only to express the capacity to do something, and that may must be used to express permission. But children do not use can to ask permission out of a desire to be stubbornly perverse. They have learned it as an idiomatic expression from adults: After you clean your room, you can go outside and play. As part of the spoken language, this use of can is perfectly acceptable. This is especially true for negative questions, such as Can't I have the car tonight? probably because using mayn't instead of can't sounds unnatural. Nevertheless, in more formal usage the distinction between can and may still has many adherents. Only 21 percent of the Usage Panel accepts can instead of may in the sentence Can I take another week to submit the application? The heightened formality of may sometimes highlights the speaker's role in giving permission. You may leave the room when you are finished implies that permission is given by the speaker. You can leave the room when you are finished implies that permission is part of a rule or policy rather than a decision on the speaker's part. For this reason, may sees considerable use in official announcements: Students may pick up the application forms tomorrow.

can² (kān)

A usually cylindrical metal container.
1. An airtight container, usually made of tin-coated iron, in which foods or beverages are preserved.
2. The contents of such a container.
Slang A jail or prison.
Slang A toilet or restroom.
Slang The buttocks.
Slang A naval destroyer.

tr.v. canned, can·ning, cans

To seal in an airtight container for future use; preserve: canning peaches.
Slang To make a recording of: can the audience's applause for a TV comedy show.
Slang To dismiss from employment or school. See Synonyms at dismiss.
Slang To put a stop to; quit: Let's can the chatter.

[Middle English canne, a water container, from Old English.]
can'ner n.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Can

Can\, an obs. form of began, imp. & p. p. of Begin, sometimes used in old poetry.

Note: [See Gan.]

With gentle words he can faile gree. --Spenser.

Can

Can\, n. [OE. & AS. canne; akin to D. Kan, G. Kanne, OHG. channa, Sw. Kanna, Dan. kande.]

1. A drinking cup; a vessel for holding liquids. --[Shak. ]

Fill the cup and fill can, Have a rouse before the morn. --Tennyson.

2. A vessel or case of tinned iron or of sheet metal, of various forms, but usually cylindrical; as, a can of tomatoes; an oil can; a milk can.

Note: A can may be a cylinder open at the top, as for receiving the sliver from a carding machine, or with a removable cover or stopper, as for holding tea, spices, milk, oysters, etc., or with handle and spout, as for holding oil, or hermetically sealed, in canning meats, fruits, etc. The name is also sometimes given to the small glass or earthenware jar used in canning.

Can

Can\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Canned; p. pr. &vb. n. Canning.] To preserve by putting in sealed cans [U. S.] "Canned meats" --W. D. Howells.

Canned goods, a general name for fruit, vegetables, meat, or fish, preserved in hermetically sealed cans.

Can

Can\, v. t. & i.

Note: [The transitive use is obsolete.] [imp. Could.] [OE. cunnen, cannen (1st sing. pres. I can), to know, know how, be able, AS. cunnan, 1st sing. pres. ic cann or can, pl. cunnon, 1st sing. imp. c[=u][eth]e (for cun[eth]e); p. p. c[=u][eth] (for cun[eth]); akin to OS. Kunnan, D. Kunnen, OHG. chunnan, G. k["o]nnen, Icel. kunna, Goth. Kunnan, and E. ken to know. The present tense I can (AS. ic cann) was originally a preterit, meaning I have known or Learned, and hence I know, know how. [root]45. See Ken, Know; cf. Con, Cunning, Uncouth.]

1. To know; to understand. [Obs.]

I can rimes of Rodin Hood. --Piers Plowman.

I can no Latin, quod she. --Piers Plowman.

Let the priest in surplice white, That defunctive music can. --Shak.

2. To be able to do; to have power or influence. [Obs.]

The will of Him who all things can. --Milton.

For what, alas, can these my single arms? --Shak.

M[ae]c[ae]nas and Agrippa, who can most with C[ae]sar. --Beau. & Fl.

3. To be able; -- followed by an infinitive without to; as, I can go, but do not wish to.

Syn: Can but, Can not but. It is an error to use the former of these phrases where the sens requires the latter. If we say, "I can but perish if I go," "But" means only, and denotes that this is all or the worst that can happen. When the apostle Peter said. "We can not but speak of the things which we have seen and heard." he referred to a moral constraint or necessety which rested upon him and his associates; and the meaning was, We cannot help speaking, We cannot refrain from speaking. This idea of a moral necessity or constraint is of frequent occurrence, and is also expressed in the phrase, "I can not help it." Thus we say. "I can not but hope," "I can not but believe," "I can not but think," "I can not but remark," etc., in cases in which it would be an error to use the phrase can but.

Yet he could not but acknowledge to himself that there was something calculated to impress awe, . . . in the sudden appearances and vanishings . . . of the masque --De Quincey.

Tom felt that this was a rebuff for him, and could not but understand it as a left-handed hit at his employer. --Dickens.

Language Translation for : can

Spanish: poder,

German: können,

Japanese: ～できる

More Translations »

can

vt. To abort a job on a time-sharing system. Used esp. when the person doing the deed is an operator, as in "canned from the console". Frequently used in an imperative sense, as in "Can that print job, the LPT just popped a sprocket!" Synonymous with gun. It is said that the ASCII character with mnemonic CAN (0011000) was used as a kill-job character on some early OSes. Alternatively, this term may derive from mainstream slang `canned' for being laid off or fired.

Jargon File 4.2.0
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can (v.)

O.E. 1st & 3rd pers. sing. pres. indic. of cunnan "know, have power to, be able," (also "to have carnal knowledge"), from P.Gmc. *kunnan "to be mentally able, to have learned" (cf. O.N. kenna "to know, make known," O.Fris. kanna "to recognize, admit," Ger. kennen "to know," Goth. kannjan "to make known"), from PIE base *gno- (see know). Absorbing the third sense of "to know," that of "to know how to do something" (in addition to "to know as a fact" and "to be acquainted with" something or someone"). An O.E. preterite-present verb, its original p.p., couth, survives only in its negation (see uncouth), but cf. could. Cannot is attested from c.1400; can't first recorded 1706 (O.E. expressed the notion by ne cunnan).

can (n.)

O.E. canne "a cup, container," from P.Gmc. *kanna, probably an early borrowing from L.L. canna "container, vessel," from L. canna "reed," but the sense evolution is difficult. Modern "air-tight vessel of tinned iron" is from 1867; can-opener is from 1877; the verb meaning "to put up in cans" is attested from 1871. Slang meaning "toilet" is c.1900, said to be a shortening of piss-can. Meaning "buttocks" is from c.1910. Verb meaning "fire an employee" is from 1905. Canned "pre-recorded" first attested 1904.

CAN
Cancel

can

In addition to the idioms beginning with can, also see as best one can; before you can say Jack Robinson; bite off more than one can chew; carry the can; catch as catch can; game that two can play; get the ax (can); in the can; more than one can shake a stick at; no can do; you can bet your ass; you can lead a horse to water; you can say that again; you never can tell. Also see under can't.

CAN
cancer (constellation)

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