can

Verb (1)

can (third-person singular simple present can, present participle (by suppletion) able, simple past could, past participle (obsolete) couth)

1. (auxiliary, defective) To know how to.
   • She can speak English, French, and German.
   • I can play football.

   Antonyms:

   cannot, can't

2. (auxiliary, defective) To be able to.
   • Can you remember your fifth birthday?
   • Animals can experience emotions.

   Synonyms:

   be able to

   Antonyms:

   cannot, can't

3. (auxiliary, defective, informal, modal) May; to be permitted or enabled to.
   • You can go outside and play when you're finished with your homework.
   • Can I use your pen?

   Synonyms:

   may

   Antonyms:

   cannot, can't, may not, mayn't

4. (auxiliary, defective, modal) To have the potential to; to be possible for (someone or something) to.
   • Can it be Friday already?
   • Teenagers can really try their parents' patience.

   Antonyms:

   cannot, can't

5. (auxiliary, defective, informal, modal) Used to form requests, typically polite.
   • Can you please come over here?
   • Can we try that scene again?
6. (obsolete, transitive) To know.
   • ca.1360-1387, William Langland, Piers Plowman
     I can rimes of Robin Hood.
   • ca.1360-1387, William Langland, Piers Plowman
     I can no Latin, quod she.

   Synonyms:

   cognize, grok, ken

7. (India, nonstandard, proscribed) To be (followed by a word like able, possible, allowed). third-person singular simple present indicative of can
   • Importance of Identifying Leaf: Identify Plants: If we can able to identify leaf, we can easily able to identify plants.2011 November 29, Tai-hoon Kim, Hojjat Adeli, Carlos Ramos, Byeong-Ho Kang, Signal Processing, Image Processing and Pattern Recognition: International Conferences, SIP 2011, Held as Part of the...
   • Children in need of care and protection can allowed to be placed in foster care based on the orders of the CWC. The selection of the foster family is based on the family's ability, intent, capacity, and prior experience of taking care[…]2018 February 15, Asha Bajpai, Child Rights in India: Law, Policy, and Practice, Oxford University Press, →ISBN
8. (Manglish, Singlish, auxiliary, intransitive) To be able to or know how to (do something); an accompanying verb is not required if it is already inferable from context.
   • Can anot?
9. (Manglish, Singlish, intransitive) To be fine or acceptable; to be possible; (with liao or already) to be enough. Often used in conjunction with a variety of clause-final particles, e.g., lah, meh or one, to express different attitudes towards the subject matter.
   • Can liao, don’t need to use so much glue.
   • We have been doing this for 50 years, we have shown you what we can do. If I say can, means can. […]2015 September 5, Derrick Ho, Chew Hui Min, Lee Min Kok, Shea Driscoll, Nilanjana Sengupta, Melissa Heng, Ong Hwee Hwee, quoting Lee Hsien Loong, “GE2015: 5 things about the third night of rallies on...

Interjection

1. (Manglish, Singlish) OK, sure; indicates approval or acknowledgment.
2. (Manglish, Singlish) Used to convey reassurance.

Particle

can

1. (Manglish, Singlish, interrogative) OK(?); used at the end of a question when seeking approval or acknowledgment.
   • I cut this wire, can?
   • Can you go collect them or not? The shop is at Jalan Sultan. I’m not free, otherwise I’ll do it myself. Can?1989, Eleanor Wong, Jackson on a Jaunt, or, Mistaken Identities, page 8, lines 1–3

Noun (1)

UK/ˈkæn/British/ˈkan/

can (plural cans)

1. A container or vessel, especially for liquids, usually made of metal.
   • I keep a can of fuel for emergencies.
   1. A sealed metal container, cylindrical or cuboid in form, typically used to store preserved foods.
      • Soup in a can lasts for years.
2. A container used to carry and dispense water for plants (a watering can).
3. (archaic) A chamber pot.
   1. (US, archaic, slang) a toilet or lavatory.
      • Shit or get off the can.
      • Bob's in the can. You can wait a few minutes or just leave it with me.
4. (Canada, US, childish, slang, vulgar) Buttocks.
5. (Canada, US, slang, vulgar) The breasts of a woman.
6. (slang) Jail or prison.
   • Bob’s in the can. He won’t be back for a few years.
   • The undercover cop never liked the Monkey Man / Even back in childhood, he wanted to see him in the can1988, The Traveling Wilburys, “Tweeter and the Monkey Man”, in The Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 1
7. (in plural, slang) Headphones.
8. (archaic) A drinking cup.
   • VVhen the vulgar ſort / Sit on their Ale-bench, vvith their cups and kannes, / Matters of ſtate be not their common talke, / Nor pure religion by their lips prophande.1600, [Michael Drayton, Richard Hathwaye, Anthony Munday, Robert Wilson], The First Part of the True and Honorable Historie, of the Life of Sir John Old-castle, the Good Lord Cobham. […], London: […]...
   • SIR ANDREW: Nay, my troth, I know not: but I know, to be up late is to be up late. / SIR TOBY: A false conclusion: I hate it as an unfilled can.c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
9. A cylindrical buoy or marker used to denote a port-side lateral mark
10. A chimney pot.
11. (in plural, slang) An E-meter used in Scientology auditing.
12. (US, slang) An ounce (or sometimes, two ounces) of marijuana.
    • […] prosecution for selling and giving away marijuana, the evidence clearly constituted substantial proof that a package purchased by defendant contained marijuana where he requested "four cans" of marijuana to be delivered to himself and […]1970, California. Supreme Court, Reports of Cases Determined in the Supreme Court of the State of California
13. A protective cover for the fuel element in a nuclear reactor.

Verb (2)

UK/ˈkæn/British/ˈkan/

can (third-person singular simple present cans, present participle canning, simple past and past participle canned)

1. (transitive) To seal in a can.
   • They canned air to sell as a novelty to tourists.
2. (transitive) To preserve by heating and sealing in a jar or can.
   • They spent August canning fruit and vegetables.
3. (transitive) To discard, scrap or terminate (an idea, project, etc.).
   • He canned the whole project because he thought it would fail.
   • My next stop is Oxford, which has also grown with the addition of new platforms to accommodate the Chiltern Railways service to London via Bicester - although, short sightedly, the planned electrification from Paddington was canned. Evidence of the volte-face can be seen along the line at places...2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, pages 67–68

   Synonyms:

   bin

4. (slang, transitive) To shut up.
   • Can your gob.
   • Maurrant: Aw, can all that talk! You been listenin’ to them bolshevikis, that’s the trouble.1929, Elmer Rice, Street Scene, New York City: Samuel French, Act II, page 146

   Synonyms:

   can it

5. (US, euphemistic, transitive) To fire or dismiss an employee.
   • The boss canned him for speaking out.
   • As a result of his refusal, the employee was subsequently canned in 2015 on the basis of "professional inadequacy" and failing to embody the "party" atmosphere that the consultancy was trying to cultivate.2022 November 25, Ben Cost, “Man wins legal right to be 'boring' at work, gets $3K from company”, in New York Post, NYP Holdings, archived from the original on 25 Nov 2022

   Synonyms:

   axe

6. (slang, transitive) To hole the ball.
   • I thought I had canned it, but it just missed, and I tapped in the second one for a par.1958, Dick Mayer, How to Think and Swing Like a Golf Champion, page 186
7. (transitive) To cover (the fuel element in a nuclear reactor) with a protective cover.

Proper noun (1) capitalized: CAN

CAN

1. (abbreviation) Abbreviation of Controller Area Network, ISO standards 11898, 11898-1, 11898-2, and its predecessor standards.

Noun (2) capitalized: CAN

CAN (countable and uncountable, plural CANs)

1. (uncountable) ceric ammonium nitrate
2. (abbreviation, countable) Abbreviation of controller area network.
3. (abbreviation, countable, initialism) Initialism of campus area network.
4. (South Africa, abbreviation, acronym, countable) Acronym of community action network.
5. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of consistent and asymptotically normal, a statistic estimator Tₙ(X₁, X₂, ..., Xₙ) is CAN (consistent and asymptotically normal) if ....
6. (Australia, abbreviation, acronym, countable) Acronym of court attendance notice.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: CAN

CAN

1. (initialism) The Andean Community of Nations.

Proper noun (3) capitalized: Can

Can

1. A river in Essex, England, which joins the River Chelmer in Chelmsford; in full, the River Can.

Proper noun (4) capitalized: Can

Can

1. A unisex given name from Vietnamese.
   • Police say Huu Can Tran, 72, opened fire at Star Ballroom Dance Studio in the Los Angeles suburb of Monterey Park, on Saturday night, before fatally shooting himself after a manhunt across the region on Sunday.2023 January 23, Jeff Winter, Casey Tolan, Scott Glover, “Gunman had been a regular patron at dance hall he attacked, according to people who knew him”, in CNN, archived from the original on 30 Mar...

Proper noun (5) capitalized: Can

Can

1. (alternative) Alternative spelling of Can.