cant
/kænt/
cant noun: an argot, the jargon of a particular class or subgroup.
Noun (1)
cant (usually uncountable, plural cants)
- An argot, the jargon of a particular class or subgroup.
- He had the look of a prince, but the cant of a fishmonger.
- 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.1836, Three discourses preached before the Congregational Society in Watertown, page 65
- 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.
- He is too well grounded for all your philoſophical Cant to hurt.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, […]...
- 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!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
- 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.
- […]but numbers of these tenants or their descendants are now offering to sell their leases by cant,1729, Jonathan Swift, The Intelligencer, number 19
Verb (1)
cant (third-person singular simple present cants, present participle canting, simple past and past participle canted)
- To speak with the jargon of a class or subgroup.
- 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?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
- […]that uncouth affected garb of speech, or canting language rather, if I may so call it1854, Robert Sanderson, “The case of the liturgy”, in The Works of Robert Sanderson, D.D., Sometime Bishop of Lincoln, volume 5, page 56
- To speak in set phrases.
- To talk, beg, or preach in a singsong or whining fashion, especially in a false or empty manner.
- [I]f he proue not yet / The cunningſt, ranckeſt Rogue that euer Canted, / Ile neuer ſee man againe, […]c. 1607–1611 (first performance), [Francis Beaumont], Iohn Fletcher, Cupids Revenge. […], London: […] Thomas Creede for Iosias Harison, […], published 1615, →OCLC, Act IV, signature H3, recto
- [S]he was one of your ſoft ſpoken, canting, whining hypocrites, who with a truly jeſuitical art, could wreſt evil out of the moſt inoffenſive thought, word, look or action; […]1765, Catherine Jemmat, The Memoirs of Mrs. Catherine Jemmat, Daughter of the Late Admiral Yeo, of Plymouth. Written by Herself, 2nd edition, volume I, London: Printed for the author, at...
- 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.
- […]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.1720, Jonathan Swift, A Proposal for the Use of Irish Manufacture
Noun (2)
cant (plural cants)
- Side, edge, corner, niche.
- under the cant of a hill
- The firſt and principall perſon in the temple, vvas IRENE, or Peace; ſhe vvas placed aloft in a Cant, […]1604 March 25 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), B[en] Jon[son], “The Other at Temple Barre”, in B. Jon: His Part of King James His Royall and Magnificent Entertainement through His Honorable...
- Slope, the angle at which something is set.
- 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.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
- A corner (of a building).
- Synonyms:
- corner
- 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.
- 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...1830, The Edinburgh Encyclopedia, volume 3, page 621
- 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
- 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.
Verb (2)
cant (third-person singular simple present cants, present participle canting, simple past and past participle canted)
Verb (3)
cant (third-person singular simple present cants, present participle canting, simple past and past participle canted)
- To divide or parcel out.
Noun (3)
cant (plural cants)
Adjective
cant (not comparable)
Proper noun capitalized: Cant
Cant
- A surname.
cant meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
cant in Tamil
- சரிவு, இறங்கு சரிவு, குழூக்குறி, பரிபாஷை, சங்கேதப் பேச்சு, பிச்சைக்காரரின் பாட்டு
cant in Urdu
- ہٹا کٹا, مضبوط, ڈھلان, جھکاؤ, کھوکھلے الفاظ, نیلام
cant in Bengali
- নাকিসুরে কথা, আন্তরিকতাহীন কথা, নিলামে বিক্রয়, অর্থহীন ভাষা, দলগত সাংকেতিক ভাষা, সাংকেতিক ভাষা
cant in Malayalam
- കിണുങ്ങുക, നിരപരാധിയാണെന്നു ഭാവിച്ചു സംസാരിക്കുക
More languagesFewer languages
- cant in Kannada
- ಓರೆ, ಮಾಲ, ಅಪ್ರಾಮಾಣಿಕವಾದ ಮಾತು, ವ್ಯರ್ಥವಾದ ಮಾತು
- cant in Assamese
- ঠাৰ thar
Examples of cant in a sentence
- The German population as a whole had been fed 12 years of Nazi propaganda, including demonizing and dehumanizing cant about homosexual men and women.2004 October 14, Leslie Feinberg, “Anti-gay terror in Nazi Germany”, in Workers World:
- Mirrors in the compartments have been canted out of the vertical plane to reduce reflections to the passengers when seated.1979 August, Graham Burtenshaw, Michael S. Welch, “O.V.S. Bulleid's SR loco-hauled coaches - 1”, in Railway World, page 396:
Synonyms of cant
Forms of cant
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | cants |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | cants |
| present participle | canting |
| past participle | canted |
| past | canted |
| Adjective | |
| alternative form | kant |
Origin of cant
From Latin cantō, probably via Old Northern French canter (“sing, tell”). Doublet of 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 (“corner, piece”) or Old Northern French cantel (“piece broken off”). The verb is attested from the 15th century, and the noun from the 16th. See cantle, from which cant is possibly back-formed as if it contained the suffix -le.
Words formed from cant
Phrases with cant
Words that rhyme with cant
18 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about cant
- What does cant mean?
- Cant means an argot, the jargon of a particular class or subgroup.
- What is cant in Tamil?
- Cant in Tamil is சரிவு, இறங்கு சரிவு, குழூக்குறி. See Cant meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use cant in a sentence?
- The German population as a whole had been fed 12 years of Nazi propaganda, including demonizing and dehumanizing cant about homosexual men and women.
- What part of speech is cant?
- Cant can be a noun, a verb, an adjective or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce cant?
- Cant is pronounced /kænt/.
- What is the plural of cant?
- The plural of cant is cants.
Words near cant in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: cant (page history and authors); Cant (page history and authors); cant (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); cant (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); cant (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); cant (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); cant (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-cant.ogg.
Cite this entry: “cant.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cant. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.