Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Cancel
Can′cel
,Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Canceled
or Cancelled
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Canceling
or Cancelling
.] [L.
cancellare
to make like a lattice, to strike or cross out (cf. Fr. canceller
, OF. canceler
) fr. cancelli
lattice, crossbars, dim. of cancer
lattice; cf. Gr. [GREEK] latticed gate. Cf. Chancel
.] 1.
To inclose or surround, as with a railing, or with latticework.
[Obs.]
A little obscure place
canceled
in with iron work is the pillar or stump at which . . . our Savior was scourged. Evelyn.
2.
To shut out, as with a railing or with latticework; to exclude.
[Obs.]
“Canceled from heaven.” Milton.
3.
To cross and deface, as the lines of a writing, or as a word or figure; to mark out by a cross line; to blot out or obliterate.
A deed may be avoided by delivering it up to be
cancelled
; that is, to have lines drawn over it in the form of latticework or cancelli
; though the phrase is now used figuratively for any manner of obliterating or defacing it. Blackstone.
4.
To annul or destroy; to revoke or recall.
The indentures were
canceled
. Thackeray.
He was unwilling to
cancel
the interest created through former secret services, by being refractory on this occasion. Sir W. Scott.
5.
(Print.)
To suppress or omit; to strike out, as matter in type.
Syn. – To blot out; obliterate; deface; erase; efface; expunge; annul; abolish; revoke; abrogate; repeal; destroy; do away; set aside. See
Abolish
. 1.
An inclosure; a boundary; a limit.
[Obs.]
A prison is but a retirement, and opportunity of serious thoughts, to a person whose spirit . . . desires no enlargement beyond the
cancels
of the body. Jer. Taylor.
2.
(Print)
(a)
The suppression or striking out of matter in type, or of a printed page or pages.
(b)
The part thus suppressed.
Webster 1828 Edition
Cancel
CANCEL
, v.t.1.
To cross the lines of a writing, and deface them; to blot out or obliterate.2.
To annul, or destroy; as, to cancel an obligation or a debt.