cant
nounEtymology
Unknown, but compare Provençal cantel (“corner, piece”) or Old Northern French cantel (“piece broken off”). The verb is attested from the 15th century, and the noun from the 16th. See cantle, from which cant is possibly back-formed as if it contained the suffix -le.
Definitions
An argot, the jargon of a particular class or subgroup.
- He had the look of a prince, but the cant of a fishmonger.
A private or secret language used by a religious sect, gang, or other group.
A language spoken by some Irish Travellers
A language spoken by some Irish Travellers; Shelta.
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Empty, hypocritical talk.
- He is too well grounded for all your philoſophical Cant to hurt.
- 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!
Whining speech, such as that used by beggars.
A blazon of a coat of arms that makes a pun upon the name (or, less often, some attribute…
A blazon of a coat of arms that makes a pun upon the name (or, less often, some attribute or function) of the bearer, canting arms.
A call for bidders at a public fair
A call for bidders at a public fair; an auction.
- […]but numbers of these tenants or their descendants are now offering to sell their leases by cant,
To speak with the jargon of a class or subgroup.
- […]that uncouth affected garb of speech, or canting language rather, if I may so call it
To speak in set phrases.
To talk, beg, or preach in a singsong or whining fashion, especially in a false or empty…
To talk, beg, or preach in a singsong or whining fashion, especially in a false or empty manner.
- [I]f he proue not yet / The cunningſt, ranckeſt Rogue that euer Canted, / Ile neuer ſee man againe, […]
- [S]he was one of your ſoft ſpoken, canting, whining hypocrites, who with a truly jeſuitical art, could wreſt evil out of the moſt inoffenſive thought, word, look or action; […]
Of a blazon, to make a pun that references the bearer of a coat of arms.
To sell by auction, or bid at an auction.
Side, edge, corner, niche.
- under the cant of a hill
- The firſt and principall perſon in the temple, vvas IRENE, or Peace; ſhe vvas placed aloft in a Cant, […]
Slope, the angle at which something is set.
- Owing 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.
A corner (of a building).
An outer or external angle.
An inclination from a horizontal or vertical line
An inclination from a horizontal or vertical line; a slope or bevel; a tilt.
A movement or throw that overturns something.
A sudden thrust, push, kick, or other impulse, producing a bias or change of direction
A sudden thrust, push, kick, or other impulse, producing a bias or change of direction; also, the bias or turn so given.
- to give a ball a cant
A segment forming a side piece in the head of a cask.
A segment of the rim of a wooden cogwheel.
A piece of wood laid upon the deck of a vessel to support the bulkheads.
An unfinished log after preliminary cutting.
To set (something) at an angle
To set (something) at an angle; to tilt.
- to cant a cask
- to cant a ship
- Mirrors in the compartments have been canted out of the vertical plane to reduce reflections to the passengers when seated.
To give a sudden turn or new direction to.
- to cant round a stick of timber
- to cant a football
To bevel an edge or corner.
To overturn so that the contents are emptied.
To divide or parcel out.
A parcel, a division.
Lively, lusty.
A surname.
The neighborhood
- neighborjargon
- neighborsociolect
- neighborcantilever
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for cant. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA