can not

See also: cannot

English

Verb

can not

1. Alternative form of cannot.
   • 1851, Agnes Strickland, “The Dangers of Doing Wrong. A Tale of the Sea-side.”, in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, volume II, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], page 228, column 2:

     “Oh, dear Arthur, I am so glad! Hurrah for Dunwich fair!” shouted the boy. “Be quiet, foolish child, we can not go without my father’s leave,” said Elizabeth. “Yes, yes, you can; it is but for once, and I will take all the blame upon myself,” cried Arthur Blackbourne. “Goodness, Arthur! I never disobeyed my father in my life.”

   • 1888, John W[orth] Kern, official reporter, “The City of Indianapolis v. Patterson”, in Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Judicature of the State of Indiana, […], volume 112, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bowen-Merrill Co., law publishers, →OCLC, headnote:

     A husband can not, without authority from his wife, plat her land, and the fact that the land which he assumes to plat was omitted by mistake from a previous plat made and acknowledged by her can make no difference.

   • 1908, Mrs. Wilson Woodrow [i.e., Nancy Mann Waddel Woodrow], chapter III, in The Silver Butterfly, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, page 35:

     “But,” he protested before he took a step to depart, “you can not leave me this way. […]

   • 1910, David E. Lantz, “Natural Enemies of the Rat”, in The Rat and Its Relation to Public Health (Public Health Bulletin; no. 30), Washington, D.C.: Public Health and Marine-hospital Service of the United States, Treasury Department; Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 169:

     Whatever may be said in favor of bounties on the larger beasts of prey, those on hawks, owls, and the smaller fur-bearing animals can not be justified.

   • 2013, Lisa Takeuchi Cullen, Pastors’ Wives, Plume, →ISBN:

     “No! You can’t go. You can not go right now. You can not leave me to deal with this—with her—by myself!”

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see can,‎ not.
   • 1979, David R[oach] Dowty, “Tenses and Time Adverbials”, in Word Meaning and Montague Grammar: The Semantics of Verbs and Times in Generative Semantics and in Montague’s PTQ, Dordrecht, Boston, Mass., London: Kluwer Academic Publishers, published 1991, →ISBN, page 349:

     This “IV negation”, with emphatic stress, shows up in sentences like You can nót go to the party (“You have the option of not going to the party”) and You can’t nót go to the party (“You have no choice but to go to the party”).

   • 1985, Randolph Quirk, A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, Longman, →ISBN:

     You can 'not obey the order, can’t you?

   • 2005, Cathy Hopkins, Midsummer Meltdown, Piccadilly Press, published 2008, →ISBN:

     ‘You’re mad,’ said Squidge. ‘You can’t not go because of me. Forget it.’ ‘I can not go and I’m not going. I’ll stay here and look after you. […]’

   • 2013, Shannon Stacey, All He Ever Dreamed, Carina Press, →ISBN, page 167:

     “I’m laying on my back, facing up. I can’t not see the ceiling fan.” “You can not scowl at it. What were you thinking about?”

   • 2021, Melody Razak, Moth, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, →ISBN:

     ‘But they depend on me. I can’t not go,’ says Ma, disconcerted. ‘I’ve made a commitment.’ / ‘Actually, Tanisi-ji, you can not go,’ says Cookie Auntie firmly. ‘You can send a note with a message that your eldest daughter is getting married. Sahib Ali is a family man. He will understand. […]’