Word.ws English Dictionary

ashcan

ashcan noun: a container for collecting ashes, especially from wood and coal fires, for eventual disposal elsewhere.

Noun

ashcan (plural ashcans)

  1. A container for collecting ashes, especially from wood and coal fires, for eventual disposal elsewhere.
    Synonyms:
    ashbin
  2. (idiomatic) A dustbin, trash can, or the like.
    • He chain-lit a fresh cigarette and flicked the old butt, still smouldering, into the steel ash-can beside his drawing table.1957, Sydney J. Bounds, The Robot Brains, London: Digit Books, page 32
    Synonyms:
    ashbin
  3. (US, idiomatic, slang) A kind of large firecracker.
  4. (slang) A depth charge.

Verb

ashcan (third-person singular simple present ashcans, present participle ashcanning, simple past and past participle ashcanned)

  1. (informal, transitive) To throw out like rubbish; to ditch or trash.

Adjective

ashcan (not comparable)

  1. Of or pertaining to the Ashcan School of American art.
  2. Describing a comic book originally published solely to retain ownership of a trademark, not intended for general release; later used for promotional comic books intended for limited release to the public.

Synonyms of ashcan

Forms of ashcan

Noun
pluralashcans
Verb
third-person singular presentashcans
present participleashcanning
past participleashcanned
pastashcanned

Origin of ashcan

From ash + can.

Words formed from ashcan

Questions about ashcan

What does ashcan mean?
Ashcan means a container for collecting ashes, especially from wood and coal fires, for eventual disposal elsewhere.
What part of speech is ashcan?
Ashcan can be a noun, a verb or an adjective.
What is the plural of ashcan?
The plural of ashcan is ashcans.

Words near ashcan in the dictionary

  1. Ashby's Law
  2. Ashby-de-la-Zouch
  3. Ashbyan
  4. ashcake
  5. ashcakes
  6. ashcan
  7. ashcan of history
  8. ashcan tree
  9. ashcanned
  10. ashcanning
  11. ashcans

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ashcan (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-ashcan.ogg.

Cite this entry: “ashcan.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ashcan. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.