“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.”

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.

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

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.

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

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”).

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

‘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.[…]’

“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?”

‘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.[…]’

Can not

Meaning

Verb