lading-can

English

Noun

lading-can (plural lading-cans)

1. (dialect, historical) A tin can (containing two or three quarts) used for taking hot water out of a boiler.
   • 1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “chapter 5”, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC:

     Hurriedly taking off her bodice, she crouched at the boiler while the water ran slowly into her lading-can.

2. (dialect, historical) A smaller vessel, often graduated for volume, used by traditional grocers for measuring goods such as sugar or rice from bulk to retailable quantities; a piggin.