canakin

English

Alternative forms

• canikin, cannakin, cannikin, kannakin

Etymology

From Middle Dutch kanneken, cannekijn (“a little can”), equivalent to can ‎ -kin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkænəkɪn/

Noun

canakin (plural canakins)

1. (archaic) A little can or cup.
   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:

     And let me the canakin clink, clink;
     And let me the canakin clink
     A soldier's a man;
     A life's but a span;
     Why, then, let a soldier drink.
     Some wine, boys!

   • 1851, Herman Melville, chapter 84, in Moby Dick:

     Then, Tashtego, lad, I'd have ye hold a canakin to the jet, and we'd drink round it!

   • 1935 December 7, The Herald, Melbourne, page 37, column 5:

     That our Dutchman was a gay fellow, who loved, to clink the canakin and spend his leisure in social jollification, his face and art most royally proclaim.

References

• “canakin”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Knaanic