Word.ws English Dictionary

carrying the can

carrying the can is the present participle of carry the can.

Meaning of carry the can

Verb

carry the can (third-person singular simple present carries the can, present participle carrying the can, simple past and past participle carried the can)

  1. (Canada, UK, idiomatic) To take responsibility, especially in a challenging situation.
    • For Vajpayee, who is keen that he alone does not carry the can for his unwieldy alliance, it is a tough decision.1998 April 25, Arati R. Jerath, "18 partners hunt for one voice," Indian Express (Bombay) (retrieved 21 Oct 2008)
    Synonyms:
    take the rap

Questions about carrying the can

What is carrying the can the present participle of?
Carrying the can is the present participle of carry the can.

Words near carrying the can in the dictionary

  1. carrying owls to Athens
  2. carrying pole
  3. carrying poles
  4. carrying someone's water
  5. carrying the ball
  6. carrying the can
  7. carrying the day
  8. carrying the mail
  9. carrying the mantle
  10. carrying the message to Garcia
  11. carrying the torch

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: carrying the can (page history and authors); carry the can (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.

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