tin opener
The British and Australian term for what Americans call a can opener — the handheld or mounted kitchen tool used to cut open tins of food.
Definitions
The British and Australian term for what Americans call a can opener — the handheld or mounted kitchen tool used to cut open tins of food. A mundane but surprisingly revealing piece of vocabulary: ask for a tin opener in the US and you'll get blank stares; ask for a can opener in the UK and the same thing happens. It's a perfect example of how everyday household words split across the English-speaking world.
We got all the way to the campsite before realising nobody had packed a tin opener for the baked beans.
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(British, AU) a can opener.
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🇦🇺About Australian & NZ slang slang
Aussie and Kiwi vocabulary — bogan, daggy, brekkie, sheila, bach, jandals — the whole Antipodean lexicon, including outback dialect, surf and beach culture, and Sydney/Melbourne street slang.
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Semantically related
- can opener76%
A device used to open tin cans, usually by slicing the lid off.
- can opener64%
(slang) A tool for safe-cracking.
- tinned dog58%
(Australia, slang, jocular, derogatory) Canned meat.
- bread bin58%
The standard British and Australian term for what Americans call a breadbox — the container you keep on your kitchen counter to store bread and keep it fresh. It's such an everyday household item that it barely registers as slang at all; it's simply the default word used across the UK. Anyone who grew up in Britain knows exactly where the bread bin is and has probably been told to put something back in it. A small but telling example of how British and American English diverge on household vocabulary.