Heading
carry out evictions against cottage occupiers.
1886. Notes and Queries, 7 S., i., p. 445.
Canister, subs. (general).—1. The
head. [A transference of the
original meaning, 'a box or
case for holding things.'] For
synonyms, see Crumpet.
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. To mill his cannister; to break his head.
1821. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act ii., Sc. 4. Tom. I've nobb'd him on the canister.
1885. Bell's Life, Jan. 3, p. 8, col. 4. Once more did the star of Australia rise, but to set from additional raps on the canister. He fell on his knees, and his head droped on his breast.
2. (common).—A hat. [Formerly canister-cap (see sense 1); subsequently shortened to canister.] For synonyms, see Golgotha.
1887. Atkin, House Scraps. Turning round, I saw my unfortunate beaver, or canister, as it was called by the gentry who had it in their keeping, bounding backwards and forwards.
Cank, adj. (old).—Dumb; silent.
[Curiously enough, cank also
signifies 'to chatter,' or 'cackle
as a goose'; it only survives in
this latter sense.]
1673. R. Head, Canting Acad., 36. Cank: dumb.
1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Cank: dumb.
Cannibal, subs. (Cambridge University).—In
the bumping races
at Cambridge, a college may be
represented by more than one
boat. The best talent is put into
the first, but it has sometimes
happened that the crew of the
second have got so well together
that it has disappointed the
prophets and bumped the first of
its own college. In this case it
is termed a cannibal, it having
eaten up its own kind, and a fine
is enacted from it by the University
Boat Club.
Cannikin or Canniken, subs. (old).—The
plague. [Grose includes
it in his dictionary under the
sense of 'a small can,' but this
was not a slang usage.]
1688. R. Holme, Armoury. III., iii., § 68. Cannikin, the Plague. [m.]
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. s.v.
Cannis-Cove, subs. (American).—A
dog-fancier. [Either from Latin
canis, a dog, or the Fr. caniche,
poodle + cove, a man.]
Cannon.—See Canon.
Cannon-Balls, subs. (political).—1.
A nickname, now obsolete,
given to the irreconcileable opponents
of free trade in England.
1858. Saturday Review, 30 Oct., p. 413, col. 2. The amendment . . . which sealed for ever the fate of Protection, was carried [in 1852] with only fifty dissentient voices—the celebrated cannon-balls. [m.]
2. (venery).—The testicles. For synonyms see cods.
Canoe. To paddle one's own
canoe, phr. (American).—To
make one's own way in life; to
exhibit skill and energy; to
succeed unaided; a slang phrase
of Western American origin, but
now universal. [Extremely careful
and clever manipulation is
required in the management of
canoes, especially in shooting
rapids; otherwise the surging
body of water might swamp the
boat, or sunken rocks strike and
seriously damage it. Hence the
adoption of such an expression to
signify skill, close attention, and
