in the can
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
completed or finalized
Literally: inside a can
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
Smooth - talking Pat O'Rourke said companies were clamouring for the rights to screen the yarn, Lifeboys.
There's a game called Ghouls ' N ' Ghosts on US Gold's Kixx label — is this the artifact you seek?
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 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “in the can” mean?
completed or finalized Literally: inside a can
Is “in the can” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.