Depth charges: Navy slang

Usage examples of ashcans.

When the ashcans burst, it was like a kick in the ass from an elephant.

I heard the clang of the ashcans as the first superin tendent came out of his basement apartment, tucked away in the alley, dropping the coal's excrement on my snow.

The depth-charge launcher was a new gadget, the Ericsson one of the first ships in the Navy to use it instead of simply rolling the ashcans off the stern.

Tiny dark stores on each side of the cluttered streets, overflowing ashcans, the pavement littered with pieces of broken bottles, drab painted signs that advertised Coca-Cola in big letters and the name of the store in small.

One of a multitude of busy ants, forever scrounging the ashcans of talent.