Part 39

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.

&fist; 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 (?), 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Can (?), v. t. & i. [The transitive use is obsolete.]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. cū­e (for cun­e); p. p. cū­ (for cun­); akin to OS. Kunnan, D. Kunnen, OHG. chunnan, G. k÷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. √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.

MŠcŠnas and Agrippa, who can most with CŠsar. 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.

Ca"naan*ite (?), n. 1. A descendant of Canaan, the son of Ham, and grandson of Noah.

2. A Native or inhabitant of the land of Canaan, esp. a member of any of the tribes who inhabited Canaan at the time of the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt.

Ca"naan*ite, n. [From an Aramaic word signifying "zeal."] A zealot. "Simon the Canaanite." Matt. x. 4.

&fist; This was the "Simon called Zelotes" (Luke vi. 15), i.e., Simon the zealot. Kitto.

Ca"naan*i`tish (?), a. Of or pertaining to Canaan or the Canaanites.

||Ca*˝a"da (?), n. [Sp.] A small ca˝on; a narrow valley or glen; also, but less frequently, an open valley. [Local, Western U. S.]

Can"a*da (?), n. A British province in North America, giving its name to various plants and animals.

Canada balsam. See under Balsam. -- Canada goose. (Zo÷l.) See Wild goose. -- Canada jay. See Whisky Jack. -- Canada lynx. (Zo÷l.) See Lynx. -- Canada porcupine (Zo÷l.) See Porcupine, and Urson. -- Canada rice (Bot.) See under Rick. -- Canada robin (Zo÷l.), the cedar bird.

Ca*na"di*an (?), a. Of or pertaining to Canada. -- n. A native or inhabitant of Canada.

Canadian period (Geol.), A subdivision of the American Lower Silurian system embracing the calciferous, Quebec, and Chazy epochs. This period immediately follows the primordial or Cambrian period, and is by many geologists regarded as the beginning of the Silurian age, See the Diagram, under Geology.

Ca*naille" (?), n. [F. canaille (cf. It. canaglia), prop. and orig. a pack of dogs, fr. L. Canis dog.]

1. The lowest class of people; the rabble; the vulgar.