kick-the-can

noun

A game played by children, similar to tag, where tagged players are freed if an untagged player manages to kick over a discarded tin can etc. set up for this purpose.

Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

nounkick-the-can (uncountable)

alternative kick the can

  1. uncountableA game played by children, similar to tag, where tagged players are freed if an untagged player manages to kick over a discarded tin can etc. set up for this purpose.

    Each syllable, screamed by a hysteric caller in the world's last round of kick-the-can.

    1994, Richard Powers, Operation Wandering Soul, HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 232
    2 more examples

    And because few families could afford cars anymore, the alley was a safe place to play Captain-May-I?, kick-the-can, and bounce-out.

    2003, Dorothy Lilja Harrison, A Better Tomorrow?, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 70

    If we were playing kick-the-can, it'd get everyone out of jail and make life hell for whoever's "it."

    2004, Yongsoo Park, Las Cucarachas, Akashic, →ISBN, page 7
Cite this entry
APA

kick-the-can. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kick-the-can

MLA

“kick-the-can.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kick-the-can. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “kick-the-can,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kick-the-can.

Source: kick-the-can on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.