vocabulary - What does "Can it!" mean, as used by Alex Chadwick?


On livejournal.com there is a transcript which seems unclear.



(fish) me! remember the fish came home in a baggy loved me for 2 weeks and then nothing
(girl) the fish is talking!
(cat) well sure he can talk but is saying anything? no not really no
(fish) HEY socks can it. this cat should not be here, he should not be about he should ot be here when your mother is out



However to make sure I wasn't mistaken, I found in the CORPUS OF CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN ENGLISH the 'same' transcript.


enter image description here


Where "Can it!" is highlighted.


After searching in several on-line dictionaries, I cannot find the definition of "Can it!" as used there.


Can anybody explain, providing a more clear example of its usage?



Answer



The original, literal sense is “to preserve (food) in a can”. Derived from this meaning is the secondary meaning of “stuffing away” or even “firing (from a job)”.


This particular phrase is a highly idiomatic one meaning, “Shut up!”—basically, you’re saying, “Take whatever it is you’re saying, put it into a can, and seal/preserve it there, out of my earshot!”


Oxford Dictionaries definition


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