cant

Meanings

Noun

• An argot, the jargon of a particular class or subgroup.
• A private or secret language used by a religious sect, gang, or other group.
• A language spoken by some Irish Travellers; Shelta.
• Empty, hypocritical talk.
• Whining speech, such as that used by beggars.
• 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.
• A call for bidders at a public fair; an auction.
• Side, edge, corner, niche.
• Slope, the angle at which something is set.
• A corner (of a building).
• An outer or external angle.
• An inclination from a horizontal or vertical line; a slope or bevel; a tilt.
• A movement or throw that overturns something.
• A sudden thrust, push, kick, or other impulse, producing a bias or change of direction; also, the bias or turn so given.
• A segment forming a side piece in the head of a cask.
• A segment of the rim of a wooden cogwheel.
• A piece of wood laid upon the deck of a vessel to support the bulkheads.
• An unfinished log after preliminary cutting.
• A parcel, a division.

Verb

• To speak with the jargon of a class or subgroup.
• To speak in set phrases.
• To preach in a singsong fashion, especially in a false or empty manner.
• Of a blazon, to make a pun that references the bearer of a coat of arms.
• To sell by auction, or bid at an auction.
• To set (something) at an angle.
• To give a sudden turn or new direction to.
• To bevel an edge or corner.
• To overturn so that the contents are emptied.
• To divide or parcel out.

Adjective

• Lively, lusty.

Origin

• From Latin cantō probably via Old Northern French canter. chant.
• 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.
• Unknown, but compare Provençal cantel or Old Northern French cantel. The verb is attested from the 15th century, and the noun from the 16th. See cantle, from which cant is possibly back-formation as if it contained the suffix -le.
• From Middle English cant, kaunt, presumably from Middle Low German. Compare Dutch kant. Attested from the 13th or 14th century.