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Webster's Dictionary (1865)

6 entries under this word

Cant

Cānt, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [Cf. Ger. kanten, kantern, to put a thing upon its edge, to tilt, to turn round, to cant. See CANT, n.]

Sense 1. To incline, pitch forward, or place upon the edge, as a cask, to make its contents run more freely.

Sense 2. To give a sudden turn or impulse to, as to any thing resting upon its edge; to jerk; to throw; as, to cant round a stick of timber, to cant a foot-ball.

Sense 3. To cut off an angle from, as from a square piece of timber.

Cānt, n.

noun

n. [Ger. kante, D. kant, Icel. kantr, O. Fr. cant, It. & Sp. canto, edge, angle, W. cant, circle, the stroke or tire of a wheel, the rim of any thing round, Lat. canthus, the iron ring round a carriage-wheel, a wheel, Gr. κανθός, the corner of the eye, the felly of a wheel.]

Sense 1. An angle; edge; corner; niche. [Obs.]

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

Sense 2. An inclination from a horizontal line; as, to be on the cant. Totten.

Sense 3. A thrust, push, or other impulse, with a sudden jerk; as, to give a ball a cant.

Sense 4. (Naut.) A piece of wood laid upon the deck of a vessel to support the bulkheads.

Cant-timbers (Naut.), timbers at the two ends of a ship, raised obliquely from the keel. Dana.

Cănt, v. i.

verbintransitive

[imp. & p. p. CANTED; p. pr. & vb. n. CANTING.] 1. To speak in a whining voice, or an affected, singing tone; to use affectation of language or barbarous jargon. That uncouth, affected garb of speech, or canting language, if I may so call it. Sanderson.

  1. To make whining pretensions to goodness; to practice hypocrisy; as, a canting fanatic.
  2. [See infra, No. 6.] To sell by auction, or bid a price at auction. “Cant their lands to the highest bidder.” Swift.

Canting arms (Her.), canting devices in the nature of a rebus alluding to the name of the bearer. Thus, the Castletons bear three castles, and Pope Adrian IV. (Nicholas Breakspeare) bore a broken spear.

Cānt, n.

noun

n. [Probably from O. Fr. cant, chant, action de chanter, Lat. cantus, alluding to the singing or whining tone of voice used by beggars.]

  1. An affected, sing-song mode of speaking.
  2. The idioms and peculiarities of speech in any sect, class, or occupation. “The cant of any profession.” Dryden.
  3. The phraseology of a sect, used without sincerity; an empty, solemn speech, implying what is not felt; religious hypocrisy.

They shall hear no cant from me. F. W. Robertson.

  1. Barbarous, vulgar jargon; slang. Johnson.
  2. The secret language spoken by gipsies, thieves, tramps, and beggars. Mayhew.
  3. [Probably from O. Fr. cant, equivalent to Lat. quantum. Cf. Fr. encan, Pr. encant, enquant, O. Sp. encante, It. incanto, M. H. Ger. gant, auction, from Lat. in quantum, i. e., for how much?] A call for bidders at an auction or public sale. “To sell their leases by cant.” Swift.

Cănt, a.

adjective

a. Affected, inelegant, or vulgar; — applied to language. B. Jonson.

To introduce and multiply cant words is the most ruinous corruption in any language. Swift.

Căn’t

A colloquial contraction for can not. ☞ “The a in can’t and shan’t is broad [has its Italian sound], in consequence of lengthening the vowel to compensate for the omitted sounds.” Smart.