carry the can
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
be blamed or punished for someone else's mistake
Literally: hold the container
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
Just her to carry the can, the prerogative of natural leaders of men.
In the end, it is always the client who has to carry the can, and fortunately RCA backed up Roche by continuing to retain his services.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “carry the can” mean?
be blamed or punished for someone else's mistake Literally: hold the container
Is “carry the can” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.