English

Noun

cant ‎(usually uncountable, plural cants)

1. (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 65

     I 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.

2. (countable, uncountable) A private or secret language used by a religious sect, gang, or other group.
3. Shelta.
4. (uncountable, pejorative) Empty, hypocritical talk.

   People claim to care about the poor of Africa, but it is largely cant.

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book IV ch iv

     He is too well grounded for all your philosophical cant to hurt.

   • 1759-1770, Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy

     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!

5. (uncountable) Whining speech, such as that used by beggars.
6. (countable, heraldry) 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.
7. (obsolete) A call for bidders at a public fair; an auction.
   • Jonathan Swift

     To sell their leases by cant.

Synonyms

• (private or secret language): argot, jargon, slang
• (musical singing): chant, singsong

Related terms

• descant

Translations

Verb

cant ‎(third-person singular simple present cants, present participle canting, simple past and past participle canted)

1. (intransitive) To speak with the jargon of a class or subgroup.
   • Ben Jonson

     The 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 Sanderson

     that uncouth affected garb of speech, or canting language, if I may so call it

2. (intransitive) To speak in set phrases.
3. (intransitive) To preach in a singsong fashion, especially in a false or empty manner.
   • Beaumont and Fletcher

     the rankest rogue that ever canted

4. (intransitive, heraldry) Of a blazon, to make a pun that references the bearer of a coat of arms.
5. (obsolete) To sell by auction, or bid at an auction.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Jonathan Swift to this entry?)

Etymology 2

From Middle English cant ‎(“edge, brink”), from Middle Dutch cant ‎(“point, side, edge”) (Modern Dutch kant ‎(“side, edge”)), ultimately of Celtic or Latin origin. Related to Medieval Latin cantus ‎(“corner, side”), from Latin canthus.

Noun

cant ‎(plural cants)

1. (obsolete) Side, edge, corner, niche.

   Under the cant of a hill.‎

   • Ben Jonson

     The first and principal person in the temple was Irene, or Peace; she was placed aloft in a cant.

2. slope, the angle at which something is set.
   • 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, Part Five

     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.

3. A corner (of a building).
4. An outer or external angle.
5. An inclination from a horizontal or vertical line; a slope or bevel; a tilt.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Totten to this entry?)

6. A movement or throw that overturns something.
   • 1830, The Edinburgh Encyclopedia, volume 3, page 621

     It 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.

7. 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

8. (coopering) A segment forming a side piece in the head of a cask.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Knight to this entry?)

9. A segment of the rim of a wooden cogwheel.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Knight to this entry?)

10. (nautical) A piece of wood laid upon the deck of a vessel to support the bulkheads.

Related terms

• cantilever

Translations

Verb

cant ‎(third-person singular simple present cants, present participle canting, simple past and past participle canted)

1. (transitive) To set (something) at an angle.

   to cant a cask; to cant a ship

2. (transitive) To give a sudden turn or new direction to.

   to cant round a stick of timber; to cant a football

3. (transitive) To bevel an edge or corner.
4. (transitive) To overturn so that the contents are emptied.

Translations

Etymology 3

Verb

cant ‎(third-person singular simple present cants, present participle canting, simple past and past participle canted)

1. (transitive) To divide or parcel out.

Etymology 4

From Middle English, presumably from Middle Low German *kant

Alternative forms

• kant

Adjective

cant ‎(not comparable)

1. (Britain, dialect) lively, lusty.

Anagrams

• NCTA

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin cantus.

Noun

cant m ‎(plural cants)

1. song

Synonyms

• cançó

Related terms

• cantar

Italian

Noun

cant m ‎(invariable)

1. apocopic form of canto

Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kant/

Etymology 1

From Proto-Brythonic *kant, from Proto-Celtic *kantom, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱm̥tóm.

Noun

cant m (plural cannoedd)

1. hundred
2. century

Derived terms

• hanner cant ‎(“fifty”)

Etymology 2

Noun

cant m (plural cantau)

1. hoop
2. rim

Mutation

References

• Definition from the BBC