Dictionary

canakin en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈkænəkɪn/

Etymology

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

Meanings

1. (archaic) A little can or cup.
   • 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! 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]:
   • 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. 1935 December 7, The Herald, Melbourne, page 37, column 5:
   • Then, Tashtego, lad, I'd have ye hold a canakin to the jet, and we'd drink round it! 1851, Herman Melville, chapter 84, in Moby Dick:

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