Adjacent Words

Cant definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CANT, v.t.
1. In popular usage, to turn about, or to turn over, by a sudden push or thrust; as, to cant over a pail or a cask.
2. To toss; as, to cant a ball.
3. To speak with a whining voice, or an affected singing tone.
[In this sense, it is usually intransitive.]
4. To sell by auction, or to bid a price at auction.
CANT, n.
1. A toss; a throw, thrust or push with a sudden jerk; as, to give a ball a cant. [This is the literal sense.]
2. A whining, singing manner of speech; a quaint, affected mode of uttering words either in conversation or preaching.
3. The whining speech of beggars, as in asking alms and making complaints of their distresses.
4. The peculiar words and phrases of professional men; phrases often repeated, or not well authorized.
5. Any barbarous jargon in speech.
6. Whining pretension to goodness.
7. Outcry, at a public sale of goods; a call for bidders at an auction.
This use of the word is precisely equivalent to auction, auctio, a hawking, a crying out, or in the vulgar dialect, a singing out, but I believe not in use in the U. States.
CANT, n. A nich; a corner or retired place.
Cant-timbers, in a ship, are those which are situated at the two ends.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: stock phrases that have become nonsense through endless repetition [syn: buzzword, cant]
2: a slope in the turn of a road or track; the outside is higher than the inside in order to reduce the effects of centrifugal force [syn: bank, cant, camber]
3: a characteristic language of a particular group (as among thieves); "they don't speak our lingo" [syn: slang, cant, jargon, lingo, argot, patois, vernacular]
4: insincere talk about religion or morals [syn: cant, pious platitude]
5: two surfaces meeting at an angle different from 90 degrees [syn: bevel, cant, chamfer] v
1: heel over; "The tower is tilting"; "The ceiling is slanting" [syn: cant, cant over, tilt, slant, pitch]

Merriam Webster's

abbreviation 1. Canticle of Canticles 2. Cantonese

Merriam Webster's

Date: 15th century can not

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective Etymology: Middle English, probably from Middle Low German *kant Date: 14th century dialect England lively, lusty II. verb Etymology: ³cant Date: circa 1543 transitive verb 1. to give a cant or oblique edge to ; bevel 2. to set at an angle ; tilt 3. chiefly British to throw with a lurch intransitive verb 1. to pitch to one side ; lean 2. slope III. noun Etymology: Middle English cant side, probably from Middle Dutch or Middle French dialect; Middle Dutch, edge, corner, from Middle French dialect (Picard), from Latin canthus, cantus iron tire, perhaps of Celtic origin; akin to Welsh cant rim; perhaps akin to Greek kanthos corner of the eye Date: 1603 1. obsolete corner, niche 2. an external angle (as of a building) 3. a log with one or more squared sides 4. a. an oblique or slanting surface b. inclination, slope IV. adjective Date: 1663 1. having canted corners or sides 2. inclined 2 V. intransitive verb Etymology: perhaps from Middle French dialect (Norman-Picard) canter to tell, literally, to sing, from Latin cantare — more at chant Date: 1567 1. to talk or beg in a whining or singsong manner 2. to speak in cant or jargon 3. to talk hypocritically VI. noun Date: 1640 1. affected singsong or whining speech 2. a. the private language of the underworld b. obsolete the phraseology peculiar to a religious class or sect c. jargon 2 3. a set or stock phrase 4. the expression or repetition of conventional or trite opinions or sentiments; especially the insincere use of pious words

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. n. & v. --n. 1 insincere pious or moral talk. 2 ephemeral or fashionable catchwords. 3 language peculiar to a class, profession, sect, etc.; jargon. --v.intr. use cant. Phrases and idioms: canting arms Heraldry arms containing an allusion to the name of the bearer. Etymology: earlier of musical sound, of intonation, and of beggars' whining; perh. from the singing of religious mendicants: prob. f. L canere sing 2. n. & v. --n. 1 a a slanting surface, e.g. of a bank. b a bevel of a crystal etc. 2 an oblique push or movement that upsets or partly upsets something. 3 a tilted or sloping position. --v. 1 tr. push or pitch out of level; tilt. 2 intr. take or lie in a slanting position. 3 tr. impart a bevel to. 4 intr. Naut. swing round. Phrases and idioms: cant-dog (or -hook) an iron hook at the end of a long handle, used for rolling logs. Etymology: ME f. MLG kant, kante, MDu. cant, point, side, edge, ult. f. L cant(h)us iron tire

Oxford Reference Dictionary

contr. can not.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Cant Cant, v. i. 1. To speak in a whining voice, or an affected, singsong tone. 2. To make whining pretensions to goodness; to talk with an affectation of religion, philanthropy, etc.; to practice hypocrisy; as, a canting fanatic. The rankest rogue that ever canted. --Beau. & Fl. 3. To use pretentious language, barbarous jargon, or technical terms; to talk with an affectation of learning. The doctor here, When he discourseth of dissection, Of vena cava and of vena porta, The meser[ae]um and the mesentericum, What does he else but cant. --B. Jonson That uncouth affected garb of speech, or canting language, if I may so call it. --Bp. Sanderson.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Cant Cant, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Canted; p. pr. & vb. n. Canting.] 1. To incline; to set at an angle; to tilt over; to tip upon the edge; as, to cant a cask; to cant a ship. 2. To give a sudden turn or new direction to; as, to cant round a stick of timber; to cant a football. 3. To cut off an angle from, as from a square piece of timber, or from the head of a bolt.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Cant Cant, n. [Prob. from OF. cant, F. chant, singing, in allusion to the singing or whining tine of voice used by beggars, fr. L. cantus. See Chant.] 1. An affected, singsong mode of speaking. 2. The idioms and peculiarities of speech in any sect, class, or occupation. --Goldsmith. The cant of any profession. --Dryden. 3. The use of religious phraseology without understanding or sincerity; empty, solemn speech, implying what is not felt; hypocrisy. They shall hear no cant from me. --F. W. Robertson 4. Vulgar jargon; slang; the secret language spoker by gipsies, thieves, tramps, or beggars.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Cant Cant, n. [OF., edge, angle, prof. from L. canthus the iron ring round a carriage wheel, a wheel, Gr. ? the corner of the eye, the felly of a wheel; cf. W. cant the stake or tire of a wheel. Cf. Canthus, Canton, Cantle.] 1. A corner; angle; niche. [Obs.] The first and principal person in the temple was Irene, or Peace; she was placed aloft in a cant. --B. Jonson. 2. An outer or external angle. 3. An inclination from a horizontal or vertical line; a slope or bevel; a titl. --Totten. 4. A sudden thrust, push, kick, or other impulse, producing a bias or change of direction; also, the bias or turn so give; as, to give a ball a cant. 5. (Coopering) A segment forming a side piece in the head of a cask. --Knight. 6. (Mech.) A segment of he rim of a wooden cogwheel. --Knight. 7. (Naut.) A piece of wood laid upon the deck of a vessel to support the bulkheads. Cant frames, Cant timbers (Naut.), timber at the two ends of a ship, rising obliquely from the keel.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Cant Cant, a. Of the nature of cant; affected; vulgar. To introduce and multiply cant words in the most ruinous corruption in any language. --Swift.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Cant Cant, n. [Prob. from OF. cant, equiv. to L. quantum; cf. F. encan, fr. L. in quantum, i.e. ``for how much?''] A call for bidders at a public sale; an auction. ``To sell their leases by cant.'' --Swift.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Cant Cant, v. t. to sell by auction, or bid a price at a sale by auction. [Archaic] --Swift.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Can't Can't A colloquial contraction for can not.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

If you refer to moral or religious statements as cant, you are criticizing them because you think the person making them does not really believe what they are saying. ...politicians holding forth with their usual hypocritical cant. [disapproval]

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Can't is the usual spoken form of 'cannot'.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. 1. Whining talk, pious prating, sanctimonious phrases. 2. Hypocrisy, affected piety, sham holiness. 3. Peculiar form of speech, professional parlance, partisan vocabulary, shibboleths of sect, popular cry. 4. Slang, jargon, low language, thieves' vocabulary, argot, lingo. 5. Auction, vendue, auction sale. 6. Turn, tilt, slant. II. a. Set, partisan, routine, current, rote, popular, bandied by the crowd. III. v. n. Whine, affect piety.

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

An hypocrite, a double-tongue palavering fellow. See PALAVER.

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

To cant; to toss or throw: as, Cant a slug into your bread room; drink a dram. SEA WIT.

Moby Thesaurus

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