Cancel

[imp. & p. p. CANCELED, OR CANCELLED; p. pr. & vb. n. CANCELING, OR CANCELLING.] [Fr. cancellier, Pr. & Pg. cancellar, Sp. cancelar, It. cancellare, from Lat. cancellare, to make like a lattice, to strike or cross out, from cancelli, lattice, cross-bars, dim. of cancer, lattice.]

1Sense 1. To inclose or surround, as with a railing, or with lattice-work. [Obs.] “A little obscure place canceled in with iron work is the pillar or stump at which . . . our Savior was scourged.” Evelyn.

2Sense 2. To cross and deface the lines of a writing; to blot out or obliterate. Blackstone.

3Sense 3. To annul, or destroy.

The indentures were canceled. Thackeray.

He was unwilling to cancel the interest created through former secret services, by being refractory on this occasion. W. Scott.

4Sense 4. (Print.) To suppress and reprint, for the sake of substituting other matter; as, to cancel a page.

Synonyms—To blot out; obliterate; deface; erase; efface; expunge; annul; abolish; revoke; abrogate; repeal; destroy; do away; set aside.

n. [See CHANCEL.] 1. An inclosure; 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. Bp. Taylor.

2Sense 2. (Print.) (a.) The suppression and reprinting of a page or more of a work. (b.) The part thus altered.