Cant
Pronunciation
Origin 1
From Latin cantÅ probably via Old Northern French canter ("sing, tell"), cognate with chant.
Full definition of cant
Noun
cant
(usually uncountable; plural cants)- (countable) An argot, the jargon of a particular class or subgroup.He had the look of a prince, but the cant of a fishmonger.
- 1836, Three discourses preached before the Congregational Society in Watertown, page 65I am aware that the phrase free inquiry has become too much a cant phrase soiled by the handling of the ignorant and the reckless by those who fall into the mistake of supposing that religion has its root in the understanding and by those who can see just far enough to doubt and no further.
- (countable, uncountable) A private or secret language used by a religious sect, gang, or other group.
- Shelta.
- (uncountable, pejorative) Empty, hypocritical talk.People claim to care about the poor of Africa, but it is largely cant.
- 1749, Henry Fielding, , Book IV ch ivHe is too well grounded for all your philosophical cant to hurt.
- 1759-1770, , Of all the cants which are canted in this canting world — though the cant of hypocrites may be the worst — the cant of criticism is the most tormenting!
- (uncountable) Whining speech, such as that used by beggars.
- (countable, heraldry) A blazon of a coat of arms that makes a pun upon the name of the bearer, canting arms.
- (obsolete) A call for bidders at a public fair; an auction.
- Jonathan SwiftTo sell their leases by cant.
Related terms
Verb
- (intransitive) To speak with the jargon of a class or subgroup.
- Ben JonsonThe doctor here,
When he discourseth of dissection,
Of vena cava and of vena porta,
The meseraeum and the mesentericum,
What does he else but cant? - Bishop Sandersonthat uncouth affected garb of speech, or canting language, if I may so call it
- (intransitive) To speak in set phrases.
- (intransitive) To preach in a singsong fashion, especially in a false or empty manner.
- Beaumont and Fletcherthe rankest rogue that ever canted
- (intransitive, heraldry) Of a blazon, to make a pun that references the bearer of a coat of arms.
- (obsolete) To sell by auction, or bid at an auction.
Origin 2
Noun
cant
(plural cants)- (obsolete) corner, niche
- Ben JonsonThe first and principal person in the temple was Irene, or Peace; she was placed aloft in a cant.
- slope, the angle at which something is set.
- Stevenson Treasure|FiveOwing to the cant of the vessel, the masts hung far out over the water, and from my perch on the cross-trees I had nothing below me but the surface of the bay.
- An outer or external angle.
- An inclination from a horizontal or vertical line; a slope or bevel; a tilt.
- A movement or throw that overturns something.
- 1830, The Edinburgh Encyclopedia, volume 3, page 621It is not only of great service in keeping the boat in her due position on the sea, but also in creating a tendency immediately to recover from any sudden cant, or lurch, from a heavy wave; and it is besides beneficial in diminishing the violence of beating against the sides of the vessel which she may go to relieve.
- A sudden thrust, push, kick, or other impulse, producing a bias or change of direction; also, the bias or turn so give.to give a ball a cant
- (coopering) A segment forming a side piece in the head of a cask.
- A segment of the rim of a wooden cogwheel.
- (nautical) A piece of wood laid upon the deck of a vessel to support the bulkheads.
Related terms
Verb
Origin 3
Verb
- (transitive) To divide or parcel out.
Origin 4
From Middle English, presumably from Middle Low German *kant