can (someone)

can (someone)

To summarily dismiss or oust someone from employment; to fire someone. Management promptly canned the new accountant after his miscalculation cost the company hundreds of thousands of dollars. They'll can me if they ever find out I came into work drunk yesterday. A: "Whoa, why'd they can Mike?" B: "Apparently, he wasn't sick on all those days he called out."

See also: can

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

can

1. n. the head. Jerry landed one on Frank’s can. Frank crumpled.

2. n. toilet. Restroom? Hell, I ain’t tired! Where’s the can?

3. n. the buttocks. (see also bucket.) The guy slipped on the ice and fell on his can.

4. n. jail. (Usually with the.) I had to spend the night in the can, but it wasn’t too bad.

5. tv. to dismiss someone from employment. The jerk canned everybody who played a part in the gag.

6. n. a car. That’s a good-looking can he’s driving.

7.  Go to cans.

8. n. a breast. (Usually objectionable. Usually plural.) Man, look at the cans on that dame!

9. n. a measurement of marijuana. (Drugs.) How much do you want for a can?

McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

can

/could do without

To prefer not to experience or deal with: I could do without their complaints.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.