cant

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See also: cânt, çant, can't, ca'n't, Cant., and Cant

English

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WOTD – 9 May 2007

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Latin cantō probably via Old Northern French canter (“sing, tell”).[1][2] Doublet of chant.

Noun

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cant (usually uncountable, plural cants)

  1. (countable) An argot, the jargon of a particular class or subgroup.
    Synonyms: argot, jargon, slang
    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.
    Synonyms: argot, jargon, slang
  3. A language spoken by some Irish Travellers; Shelta.
  4. (uncountable, derogatory) Empty, hypocritical talk.
    • 1749, Henry Fielding, “Containing Such Very Deep and Grave Matters, that Some Readers, Perhaps, May Not Relish It”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume II, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book IV, page 23:
      He is too well grounded for all your philoſophical Cant to hurt.
    • 1761, [Laurence Sterne], chapter XII, in The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, volume III, London: […] R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley […], →OCLC, page 60:
      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!
    • 1903, Samuel Butler, chapter 46, in The Way of All Flesh:
      ... he knew very well that if they thought him clever they were being taken in, but it pleased him to have been able to take them in, and he tried to do so still further; he was therefore a good deal on the look-out for cants that he could catch and apply in season, and might have done himself some mischief thus if he had not been ready to throw over any cant as soon as he had come across another more nearly to his fancy ...
    • 2004 October 14, Leslie Feinberg, “Anti-gay terror in Nazi Germany”, in Workers World‎[1]:
      The German population as a whole had been fed 12 years of Nazi propaganda, including demonizing and dehumanizing cant about homosexual men and women.
  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.
    • 1729, Jonathan Swift, The Intelligencer, number 19:
      […] but numbers of these tenants or their descendants are now offering to sell their leases by cant,
Derived terms
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English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *keh₂n- (0 c, 24 e)
Translations
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Verb

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

  2. (intransitive) To speak with the jargon of a class or subgroup.
    • 1625 (first performance), Ben[jamin] Jonson, The Staple of Newes. […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Robert Allot […], published 1631, →OCLC, Act IV, scene iv, page 59:
      The Doctor here, I will proceed with the learned. / VVhen he diſcourſeth of diſſection, / Or any point of Anatomy: that hee tells you, / Of Vena caua, and of vena porta, / The Meſeraicks, and the Meſenterium. / VVhat does he elſe but cant? […] / Does he not cant? VVho here does vnderſtand him?
    • 1854, Robert Sanderson, “The case of the liturgy”, in The Works of Robert Sanderson, D.D., Sometime Bishop of Lincoln‎[2], volume 5, page 56:
      […] that uncouth affected garb of speech, or canting language rather, if I may so call it
  3. (intransitive) To speak in set phrases.
  4. (intransitive) To talk, beg, or preach in a singsong or whining fashion, especially in a false or empty manner.
  5. (intransitive, heraldry) Of a blazon, to make a pun that references the bearer of a coat of arms.
  6. (obsolete) To sell by auction, or bid at an auction.
    • 1720, Jonathan Swift, A Proposal for the Use of Irish Manufacture:
      […] labouring with all their might for preventing the bishops from letting their revenues at a moderate half value […] at the very instant, when they were every where canting their own land upon short leases, and sacrificing their oldest tenants for a penny an acre advance.
Derived terms
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See also

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Etymology 2

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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

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cant (plural cants)

  2. (obsolete) Side, edge, corner, niche.
    under the cant of a hill
    • 1604 March 25 (first performance; Gregorian calendar; published 1604), Beniamin Ionson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Part of the Kings Entertainment in Passing to His Coronation [The Coronation Triumph]”, in The Workes of Beniamin Ionson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby, published 1616, →OCLC, page 853:
      The firſt and principall perſon in the temple, was IRENE, or Peace; ſhee was placed aloft in a Cant, […]
  3. Slope, the angle at which something is set.
    • 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, “‘Pieces of Eight’”, in Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC, part V (My Sea Adventure), page 218:
      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.
  4. A corner (of a building).
    Synonym: corner
  5. An outer or external angle.
  6. An inclination from a horizontal or vertical line; a slope or bevel; a tilt.[3]
    Synonyms: bevel, slope, tilt
  7. 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.
  8. 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
  9. (coopering) A segment forming a side piece in the head of a cask.[4]
  10. A segment of the rim of a wooden cogwheel.[5]
  11. (nautical) A piece of wood laid upon the deck of a vessel to support the bulkheads.
  12. (lumbering) An unfinished log after preliminary cutting.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Verb

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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
    • 1979 August, Graham Burtenshaw, Michael S. Welch, “O.V.S. Bulleid's SR loco-hauled coaches - 1”, in Railway World, page 396:
      Mirrors in the compartments have been canted out of the vertical plane to reduce reflections to the passengers when seated.
  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.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 3

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Unknown, but compare Provençal cantel (“corner, piece”) or Old Northern French cantel (“piece broken off”).[6] The verb is attested from the 15th century,[7] and the noun from the 16th.[6] See cantle, from which cant is possibly back-formed as if it contained the suffix -le.

Verb

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

  1. (transitive, obsolete) To divide or parcel out.

Noun

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cant (plural cants)

  1. (dialectal, forestry) A parcel, a division.

Etymology 4

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From Middle English cant, kaunt, presumably from Middle Low German *kant, perhaps a slang word related to kant (“edge, rim”), from Medieval Latin canthus. Attested from the 13th or 14th century.[8]

Alternative forms

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Adjective

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cant (not comparable)

  1. (British, dialectal) Lively, lusty.

References

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  1. ^ Tom McArthur (1992) The Oxford Companion to the English Language, Oxford University Press, →ISBN
  2. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “cant”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
  3. ^ Edward H[enry] Knight (1877) “Cant”, in Knight’s American Mechanical Dictionary. […], volumes I (A–GAS), New York, N.Y.: Hurd and Houghton […], →OCLC.
  4. ^ Edward H[enry] Knight (1877) “Cant”, in Knight’s American Mechanical Dictionary. […], volumes I (A–GAS), New York, N.Y.: Hurd and Houghton […], →OCLC.
  5. ^ Edward H[enry] Knight (1877) “Cant”, in Knight’s American Mechanical Dictionary. […], volumes I (A–GAS), New York, N.Y.: Hurd and Houghton […], →OCLC.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 cant, n.2, in Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.
  7. ^ cant, v.1, in Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.
  8. ^ cant, adj., in Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Catalan

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Etymology

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Inherited from Latin cantus. Compare Occitan cant.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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cant m (plural cants)

  1. song
    Synonym: cançó
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References

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  • “cant” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Italian

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Noun

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cant m (apocopated)

  1. Apocopic form of canto

Middle English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Possibly from Middle Low German *kant, perhaps a slang word related to kant (“edge, rim”), from Medieval Latin canthus.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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cant

  1. (Northern, Early Scots) bold, lively, cant
    • c. 1340, Cursor Mundi, Cotton Vespasian A iii, lines 8943-46:
      Iuus þat war sa cant and kene, / Quen þai had þis meracles sene, / þai drou it þen and mad a brig / Ouer a litel burn to lig
      Jews who were so bold and ready, when they had seen this miracle, pulled it out and made a bridge over a little stream to lie

Descendants

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  • English: cant (dialectal)
  • Scots: cant

References

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Anagrams

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Middle Scots

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English cant (“bold, lively”).

Adjective

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cant

  1. lively
    • 1513, Virgil, translated by Gavin Douglas, Aeneid:
      The cadgyar callis furth his capill with crakkis wail cant
      The carrier summons his horse with very lively shouts

Old French

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Noun

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cant oblique singular, m (oblique plural canz or cantz, nominative singular canz or cantz, nominative plural cant)

  1. Alternative form of chant

Romanian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from German Kante.

Noun

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cant n (plural canturi)

  1. edge

Declension

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Declension of cant
singular plural
indefinite articulation definite articulation indefinite articulation definite articulation
nominative/accusative (un) cant cantul (niște) canturi canturile
genitive/dative (unui) cant cantului (unor) canturi canturilor
vocative cantule canturilor

Welsh

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Middle Welsh and Old Welsh cant, from Proto-Brythonic *kant, from Proto-Celtic *kantom, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱm̥tóm.

Numeral

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Welsh numbers (edit)
1,000
[a], [b], [c] ←  90 [a], [b], [c], [d] ←  99 100 101  →  200  → 
10[a], [b]
    Cardinal (vigesimal): pum ugain
    Cardinal: cant, (before nouns) can
    Ordinal: canfed
    Ordinal abbreviation: 100fed

cant

  1. (cardinal number) one hundred
Usage notes
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  • Preceding a noun, cant takes the form can.
  • Cardinals following cant employ a (“and”) as a connecting word, which stands in contrast to ordinals after canfed, which use wedi'r (“past the, after the”), e.g. cant ac un (“one hundred and one”) but cyntaf wedi'r cant (“hundred-and-first”).
Derived terms
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Noun

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cant m (plural cannoedd)

  1. hundred
  2. century
Derived terms
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Etymology 2

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Middle Welsh, from Proto-Celtic *kantos (“corner, rim”). Related to Breton kant (“circle”), Old Irish cétad (“round seat”).

Noun

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cant m (plural cantau)

  1. hoop
  2. rim

Mutation

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Welsh mutation
radical soft nasal aspirate
cant gant nghant chant
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

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