1. A portable vessel (in mod. use, of tin-plate or other metal) for holding or conveying water.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xxii. (Laurence), 361. With þat he brocht a vatir-cane, & laurens hyme baptist þane.
a. 1400. Nominale (Skeat), 485. Lauour basyn et poot ewer And watur-canne.
1687. Shadwell, Juvenal, Sat., x. 100. Mechanicks soon from that so Worship’t face Forge little Platters, and small water Cans [L. urceolos].
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Water-car, a tin vessel for holding water for a dressing-room.
b. Astr.
1870. Proctor, Other Worlds, xii. 287. The two streams from the Water-can of Aquarius.
2. The yellow water-lily, Nuphar lutea, so called from the shape of the seed-vessels. Also the white water-lily, Nymphæa alba.
1622. Drayton, Poly-olb., xx. 135. With Water-cans againe, some [Nymphs] wantonly them dight, Whose larger leafe and flower, gaue wonderfull delight. Ibid. (1630), Muses Elizium (1892), 18. Water-cans and King-cups ranck.
1796. Withering, Brit. Plants (ed. 3), II. 489. Nymphæa lutea.… Yellow Water Lilly, or Watercan. Ibid. N. alba.… Water-lily, Water-can.
