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v. t. & i. [ The transitive use is obsolete.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. cūðe (for cunðe); p. p. cūð (for cunð); akin to OS. Kunnan, D. Kunnen, OHG. chunnan, G. können, 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. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

I can rimes of Robin Hood. Piers Plowman. [ 1913 Webster ]

I can no Latin, quod she. Piers Plowman. [ 1913 Webster ]

Let the priest in surplice white,
That defunctive music can. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To be able to do; to have power or influence. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The will of Him who all things can. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

For what, alas, can these my single arms? Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Mæcænas and Agrippa, who can most with Cæsar. Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Tom felt that this was a rebuff for him, and could not but understand it as a left-handed hit at his employer. Dickens. [ 1913 Webster ]

an obs. form of began, imp. & p. p. of Begin, sometimes used in old poetry. [ See Gan. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

With gentle words he can faile gree. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. & AS. canne; akin to D. Kan, G. Kanne, OHG. channa, Sw. Kanna, Dan. kande. ] 1. A drinking cup; a vessel for holding liquids. [ Shak. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Fill the cup and fill can,
Have a rouse before the morn. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. an ancient country is southwest Asia on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean.
Syn. -- Palestine, Holy Land. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ From an Aramaic word signifying “zeal.” ] A zealot. “Simon the Canaanite.” Matt. x. 4. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ This was the “Simon called Zelotes” (Luke vi. 15), i.e., Simon the zealot. Kitto. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A descendant of Canaan, the son of Ham, and grandson of Noah. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to Canaan or the Canaanites. [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. A genus of birds including the spruce grouse Canachites canadensis.
Syn. -- genus Canachites. [ WordNet 1.5 ]