cannedadj.
/kand/, U.S. /kænd/ 1. That has been put into a can or cans; contained or supplied in a can; esp. (of food or drink) hermetically sealed in an airtight metal can for long-term preservation. Also (chiefly North American): (of fruit or vegetables) preserved in a jar, typically after heating, and with the addition of other ingredients such as sugar, salt, or vinegar; bottled. Cf. can v.3 1a.
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the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preserving or pickling > [adjective] > preserved by canning
canned1856
tinned1861
1856 Wheeling (Va.) Daily Intelligencer 16 June Canned fruits, embracing peaches, tomatoes, &c.
1879 J. W. Boddam-Whetham Roraima & Brit. Guiana 140 (note) A small quantity of canned provisions.
1906 Epworth Herald 5 May 1291/1 (advt.) No canned paint is fresh paint—any more than canned corn can be fresh corn.
1937 Daily Express 24 Feb. 16/5 Canned beer has..flopped in Great Britain.
1941 Helena (Montana) Independent 2 Aug. 2/6 10 jars of canned fruit and vegetables.
2006 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 9 Sept. (Weekend Suppl.) 8/3 Tell me where those nice big tins of my preferred brand of canned tomatoes have gone?
2. Of an animal (esp. a dog): having an empty can tied to its tail, by way of a prank. Cf. can v.3 2.
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1876 Connersville (Indiana) Examiner 18 May The average small boy of this city thinks there is nothing like a ‘canned’ dog.
1903 A. Adams Log of Cowboy iii. 37 I was half a mile in the lead, burning the earth like a canned dog.
1941 Weekly Tribune (Moulton, Iowa) 2 Oct. Yapping like a canned dog.
1994 R. Hendrickson Happy Trails 47 Canned dog, dog with empty tin cans tied to his tail; to can a dog and set him loose was once thought great fun to some.
3. figurative and in extended use from sense 1. Frequently somewhat depreciative.
a. Of sound or (in later use) images: mechanically or artificially reproduced; pre-recorded. Cf. canned laughter n. at Compounds.
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the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > thing heard > [adjective] > reproduced
canned1878
the world > existence and causation > creation > [adjective] > created or produced > contrived, artificial, or put together
positivec1385
artificial?c1425
craftlya1492
wroughta1500
preparated1569
made1580
elaborate1583
elaborate1592
elaborated1596
handmade1603
arted1606
factitiousa1624
made-up1677
fictitious1686
man-madea1718
got-up1793
gotten-up1796
canned1878
artefact1909
prefabricated1935
society > communication > record > recording or reproducing sound or visual material > sound recording and reproduction > a sound recording > [adjective] > recorded music
canned1878
phonogramic1888
tinned1924
potted1928
bootleg1951
digital1969
1878 Iowa Liberal 10 Apr. Listening, entranced, to the sound of their own voices, having canned eloquence out of season, as we have canned peaches and tomatoes in winter.
1904 ‘O. Henry’ Cabbages & Kings vi. 93 ‘The Latin races..are peculiarly adapted to be victims of the phonograph.’ ‘Then,’ says I, ‘we'll export canned music to the Latins.’
1934 B.B.C. Year-bk. 117 Broadcasting has been derided as ‘canned’ entertainment.
1959 Cambr. Rev. 7 Feb. 321/1 The film as pictures (not merely as canned drama).
2003 Independent on Sunday 19 Jan. 13/1 The systems that give us recorded voices instead of human beings, time-wasting option menus and annoying canned music.
b. Originally and chiefly North American. Of news reports, editorials, press releases, etc.: prepared and issued for use in the same form by many different publications; syndicated.
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1883 Daily Leader (Bloomington, Illinois) 2 May The value of the Associated Press report over antiquated canned news..will be see at once in comparing our dispatches to-day with those of the Independent.
1921 Editor & Publisher 10 Dec. 1/2 It is cheaper to fill their columns with canned news than it is to hire competent writers.
1984 Washington Post (Nexis) 21 Mar. a22 Readers deserve clear warning about where the opinions are coming from. This should apply to canned editorials as well.
2013 Daily Herald (McHenry Country, Illinois) 31 July (Opinion section) 14/1 The Daily Herald must be especially cautious when purchasing ‘canned’ news information.
c. Originally and chiefly North American. Generally: prepared or created in advance; ready-made; (hence) unoriginal, clichéd; (also) artificial; contrived, affected.
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1893 Harper's Mag. May 969/2 Many ‘canned’ reputations have been destroyed, and many maligned characters have been lifted to honour.
1894 Semi-Weekly State Jrnl. (Lincoln, Nebraska) 19 June 1/1 He will produce that dear old canned speech with which he has entertained audiences in twenty different localities elsewhere.
1903 Daily Telegram (Adrian, Michigan) 23 July 3/1 With a company of 1,500 I listened to a most excellent canned sermon by Dr. Coddington of Syracuse University.
1936 San Antionio (Texas) Express 22 Oct. 9/1 We are all guilty of uttering canned thoughts, passing on canned superstitions and giving a haven to canned ideas—because it is the easiest thing to do.
2016 O. Moshfegh Eileen 137 The way she talked was so canned, so scripted, it inspired me to be just as canned.
4. slang. Drunk; intoxicated.
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the world > food and drink > drink > thirst > excess in drinking > [adjective] > drunk
fordrunkenc897
drunkena1050
cup-shottenc1330
drunka1400
inebriate1497
overseenc1500
liquor1509
fou1535
nase?1536
full1554
intoxicate1554
tippled1564
intoxicated1576
pepst1577
overflown1579
whip-cat1582
pottical1586
cup-shota1593
fox-drunk1592
lion-drunk1592
nappy1592
sack-sopped1593
in drink1598
disguiseda1600
drink-drowned1600
daggeda1605
pot-shotten1604
tap-shackled1604
high1607
bumpsy1611
foxed1611
in one's cups1611
liquored1611
love-pot1611
pot-sick1611
whift1611
owl-eyed1613
fapa1616
hota1616
inebriated1615
reeling ripea1616
in one's (or the) pots1618
scratched1622
high-flown?1624
pot-shot1627
temulentive1628
ebrious1629
temulent1629
jug-bitten1630
pot-shaken1630
toxed1635
bene-bowsiea1637
swilled1637
paid1638
soaken1651
temulentious1652
flagonal1653
fuddled1656
cut1673
nazzy1673
concerned1678
whittled1694
suckey1699
well-oiled1701
tippeda1708
tow-row1709
wet1709
swash1711
strut1718
cocked1737
cockeyed1737
jagged1737
moon-eyed1737
rocky1737
soaked1737
soft1737
stewed1737
stiff1737
muckibus1756
groggy1770
muzzeda1788
muzzya1795
slewed1801
lumpy1810
lushy1811
pissed1812
blue1813
lush1819
malty1819
sprung1821
three sheets in the wind1821
obfuscated1822
moppy1823
ripe1823
mixed1825
queer1826
rosined1828
shot in the neck1830
tight1830
rummy1834
inebrious1837
mizzled1840
obflisticated1840
grogged1842
pickled1842
swizzled1843
hit under the wing1844
obfusticatedc1844
ebriate1847
pixilated1848
boozed1850
ploughed1853
squiffy?1855
buffy1858
elephant trunk1859
scammered1859
gassed1863
fly-blown1864
rotten1864
shot1864
ebriose1871
shicker1872
parlatic1877
miraculous1879
under the influence1879
ginned1881
shickered1883
boiled1886
mosy1887
to be loaded for bear(s)1888
squiffeda1890
loaded1890
oversparred1890
sozzled1892
tanked1893
orey-eyed1895
up the (also a) pole1897
woozy1897
toxic1899
polluted1900
lit-up1902
on (also upon) one's ear1903
pie-eyed1903
pifflicated1905
piped1906
spiflicated1906
jingled1908
skimished1908
tin hat1909
canned1910
pipped1911
lit1912
peloothered1914
molo1916
shick1916
zigzag1916
blotto1917
oiled-up1918
stung1919
stunned1919
bottled1922
potted1922
rotto1922
puggled1923
puggle1925
fried1926
crocked1927
fluthered1927
lubricated1927
whiffled1927
liquefied1928
steamed1929
mirackc1930
overshot1931
swacked1932
looped1934
stocious1937
whistled1938
sauced1939
mashed1942
plonked1943
stone1945
juiced1946
buzzed1952
jazzed1955
schnockered1955
honkers1957
skunked1958
bombed1959
zonked1959
bevvied1960
mokus1960
snockered1961
plotzed1962
over the limit1966
the worse for wear1966
wasted1968
wired1970
zoned1971
blasted1972
Brahms and Liszt?1972
funked up1976
trousered1977
motherless1980
tired and emotional1981
ratted1982
rat-arsed1984
wazzed1990
mullered1993
twatted1993
bollocksed1994
lashed1996
1910 Marshall (Mich.) News 15 July One [man] was intoxicated to such an extent that he could not move a muscle. Another closely bordered that condition, while the third was only half canned.
1914 C. Mackenzie Sinister St. II. iv. ii. 882 She was a bit canned that night, and I suppose I'd had one or two myself.
1950 E. L. Stewart Men should Weep in Twentieth Cent. Sc. Drama (2010) 308 I canna staun yer fumblin aboot—unless I'm canned. Get oot ma way. I'm gonnae get dressed.
2009 Cape Argus (Nexis) 7 Sept. 10 If you were canned you were canned and if you got caught [driving while drunk], you took the bullet like a man.
5. Originally U.S. Designating a form of hunting in which captive game animals are kept in a confined area to be shot as trophies, usually for a fee; engaged in or relating to such hunting.
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1949 Arlington Heights (Illinois) Herald 2 Dec. 17/5 Preserve hunting..looks like pretty much ‘canned’ hunting and the fellows who really like to hunt wild game just don't go for it in a big way.
1970 Alamogordo (New Mexico) Daily News 19 Apr. 3/1 The wild horses..are killed..to feed caged mountain lions, which are used in Colorado illegal canned hunts.
1993 Jerusalem Rep. (Nexis) 25 Feb. 7 Rumors reached him that the game farmer [in South Africa] had been charging tourists to shoot ‘canned’ lions in an enclosure.
2001 C. N. Douglas Cat in Leopard Spot 295 If every person..who saw a mounted animal head..said, ‘Oh, are you one of those yellow-bellied canned hunters?’ it might take the fun out of it.
2015 Daily Express 26 Oct. 25/5 Canned hunting is simply bagging a trophy as quickly as possible then pushing off home.
6. Of the rotary parts of a pump's motor: enclosed in a single chamber, thus allowing the liquid being pumped to be used to both lubricate the bearings and cool the motor. Also: designating a pump's motor whose rotary parts are enclosed in this way.
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1950 K. D. McMahan in R. N. Lyon Liquid-metals Handbk. vii. 154 The pump shown in Figure 3B illustrates a short shaft canned rotor type of construction which eliminates the necessity for a gas seal.
1975 Physics Bull. May 227/1 The pump is driven by a canned motor operating on a 400 Hz supply.
2013 IET Electric Power Applic. (Nexis) 7 557 The design of the rotor was simplified by replacing the conventional squirrel-cage rotor with a canned rotor, using only a conducting-can on the surface of the rotor to develop the necessary torque.
Compounds
canned air n. (a) (chiefly North American) air from an air conditioner or other artificial ventilation system; cf. tinned air n. at tinned adj. 2c; (b) compressed gas in a spray can, used for cleaning or dusting electronic devices and other delicate equipment.In quot. 1896 humorously: fresh air sealed in a can for sale.
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1896 Sterling (Illinois) Standard 2 July The next thing is a man with ‘canned air’ for cooling purposes these warm days.]
1899 Cassier’s Mag. Jan. 220/1 One [opinion], held by the captain of the New York..was that the ventilators should be kept trimmed to the wind to catch any air that might be moving..and the men were not obliged to live on what has aptly been termed ‘canned air’.
1914 N.Y. Times 6 Sept. iv. 2/6 Any courtroom which depends for fresh air on artificial ventilation will fail. To rely on canned air is well enough under certain conditions, but it is not for the courtroom.
1964 Pop. Mech. Mar. 86/1 Some new products make you wonder—like..canned air for blowing dust off things.
2002 J. Thompson Wide Blue Yonder i. 14 The grocery doors whooshed open and the cold canned air blessed the back of his neck.
2013 Smart Computing Apr. 70/3 To clean off the electronics, invest in some canned air and use it to periodically blow the dust out of the system.
canned goods n. chiefly North American food or drink hermetically sealed in airtight metal cans for long-term preservation; cf. tinned goods n. (b) at tinned adj. Additions.
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the world > food and drink > food > food otherwise characterized > [noun] > tinned food
tinned goods1778
canned goods1862
conner1931
1862 Philadelphia Inquirer 31 July 5/6 (advt.) Hermetically sealed canned goods, as follows: Roast Beef, Roast Mutton, [etc.].
1942 J. E. Lips Tents in Wilderness i. 28 There were..canned goods and tea packages, flour bags and butter barrels.
2018 Los Angeles Times (Nexis) 14 May a8 A donation center..was still operating Sunday morning as evacuees picked up canned goods, water, rice and clothes.
canned heat n. North American a flammable jelly, composed chiefly of denatured alcohol, sold in a small can as a portable fuel, but sometimes also used as an improvised intoxicant; cf. Sterno n.
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1915 N.Y. Times 23 Jan. 7/2 (advt.) One of the greatest modern utilities: Sterno Canned Heat. All the efficiency of gas or electricity, but infinitely more convenient.
1918 Diary 23 Feb. in Company ‘A’ 23rd Engineers (1920) 22/1 We were issued canned-heat and cooked our own suppers of red horse, tomatoes and hard tack.
1935 T. Wolfe Of Time & River ii. xiv. 158 Old blown bums who..beg, with canned heat on their breaths.
1951 J. Jones From Here to Eternity li. 776 They didnt even have whiskey; all they had had was canned heat from Woolworth's that they had to strain the alcohol out of.
2013 Toronto Star (Nexis) 27 Dec. gt2 Shelves were denuded of everything but a few containers of canned heat and some vastly overpriced kerosene.
canned laughter n. frequently depreciative pre-recorded laughter; spec. pre-recorded audience laughter added to the soundtrack of a comedy programme; cf. laugh track n. at laugh n. Compounds 2.
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1910 Medico-pharmaceutical Critic & Guide Aug. 279 Sympathetic laughter..is aroused by the sight of a laughing face... The sound of laughter alone will do it,..as the success of ‘canned’ laughter in a phonograph can testify.
1954 Frederick (Maryland) Post 8 Feb. 9/2 The current and widespread practice of adding canned laughter, phony yaks, to filmed TV and transcribed radio shows.
2008 Times 27 Dec. (Mag. section) 10/1 Would anyone find My Family remotely funny if it wasn't for the canned laughter that comes with every bad joke?
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2019; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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adj.1856