can opener
noun
a manual device or small electric appliance for opening cans.
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can opener
Americannoun
-
can openers
plural
can-opener
British
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of can opener
First recorded in 1865–70
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.
See Examples For:
For the home cooks: OXO is best known for revolutionizing the salad spinner, but it has also redesigned the garlic press, the can opener, the vegetable peeler … the list goes on.
From Slate ● Sep. 11, 2026
One character, for reasons you’ll observe, wordlessly switches from soup cans that require them to use a can opener to ones with a pull tab.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2025
A manual can opener is a must for accessing canned goods, while a hand-crank food processor can help with basic meal prep.
From Salon ● Oct. 10, 2024
If it hurts to use a traditional can opener, you might prefer a mechanical one that operates with the push of a button.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 22, 2023
Dicey built a small fire and opened the soup can with her jackknife can opener.
From "Homecoming" by Cynthia Voigt
The can-opener now is access to locked doors of knowledge and services.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2025
After their not very meet-cute can-opener moment, the next significant interaction between Dave and Fern comes at a bar when he asks her to dance, tripping over his words a little.
From Slate ● Apr. 24, 2021
Still, at least the thing exists — in a weird quirk of history, the can-opener wasn’t invented until 1870, a lengthy 48 years after the can itself.
From Time ● Jun. 15, 2016
Keegan had gone, but no matter: Graeme Souness and Kenny Dalglish had arrived, the former setting up the latter for a can-opener of a winner.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 3, 2015
"All of that row about an old can-opener," gasped Mary, "and after all it was a can't-opener."
From Vacation with the Tucker Twins by Nell Speed
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.
