Can

Can Can, v. t. & i.

Note: [The transitive use is obsolete.] [imp. {Could}.] [OE. cunnen, cannen (1st sing. pres. I can), to know, know how, be able, AS. cunnan, 1st sing. pres. ic cann or can, pl. cunnon, 1st sing. imp. c[=u][eth]e (for cun[eth]e); p. p. c[=u][eth] (for cun[eth]); akin to OS. Kunnan, D. Kunnen, OHG. chunnan, G. k["o]nnen, Icel. kunna, Goth. Kunnan, and E. ken to know. The present tense I can (AS. ic cann) was originally a preterit, meaning I have known or Learned, and hence I know, know how. [root]45. See {Ken}, {Know}; cf. {Con}, {Cunning}, {Uncouth}.] 1. To know; to understand. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

I can rimes of Rodin Hood. --Piers Plowman. [1913 Webster]

I can no Latin, quod she. --Piers Plowman. [1913 Webster]

Let the priest in surplice white, That defunctive music can. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

2. To be able to do; to have power or influence. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

The will of Him who all things can. --Milton. [1913 Webster]

For what, alas, can these my single arms? --Shak. [1913 Webster]

M[ae]c[ae]nas and Agrippa, who can most with C[ae]sar. --Beau. & Fl. [1913 Webster]

3. To be able; -- followed by an infinitive without to; as, I can go, but do not wish to.

Syn: {Can but}, {Can not but}. It is an error to use the former of these phrases where the sens requires the latter. If we say, ``I can but perish if I go,'' ``But'' means only, and denotes that this is all or the worst that can happen. When the apostle Peter said. ``We can not but speak of the things which we have seen and heard.'' he referred to a moral constraint or necessety which rested upon him and his associates; and the meaning was, We cannot help speaking, We cannot refrain from speaking. This idea of a moral necessity or constraint is of frequent occurrence, and is also expressed in the phrase, ``I can not help it.'' Thus we say. ``I can not but hope,'' ``I can not but believe,'' ``I can not but think,'' ``I can not but remark,'' etc., in cases in which it would be an error to use the phrase can but. [1913 Webster]

Yet he could not but acknowledge to himself that there was something calculated to impress awe, . . . in the sudden appearances and vanishings . . . of the masque --De Quincey. [1913 Webster]

Tom felt that this was a rebuff for him, and could not but understand it as a left-handed hit at his employer. --Dickens. [1913 Webster]