garbage can
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of garbage can
An Americanism dating back to 1905–10
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"They don't see us as a town. To them we're just another garbage can," she said.
From Barron's • May 13, 2026
“No Black person’s ever asked me why Mookie threw the garbage can through the window,” he notes.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 20, 2025
Once, he even called out a Reds player’s lack of hustle on the basepaths — and ended up stuffed in a garbage can.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 28, 2025
People snow skiing down Bourbon Street in New Orleans, garbage can lids and plastic baby pools used as makeshift sleds, snowmen on the beach; it was something out of this world.
From Salon • Jan. 29, 2025
The next day after work, Roberto, Trampita, and I buried El Perico in a cigar box we found in Mr. Jacobson’s garbage can.
From "The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child" by Francisco Jiménez
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
