canted

Verb (1)

cant (third-person singular simple present cants, present participle canting, simple past and past participle canted)

1. (intransitive) 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
2. (intransitive) To speak in set phrases.
3. (intransitive) 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
4. (intransitive) Of a blazon, to make a pun that references the bearer of a coat of arms.
5. (obsolete) 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

Verb (2)

cant (third-person singular simple present cants, present participle canting, simple past and past participle canted)

1. (transitive) To set (something) at an angle; to tilt.
   • to cant a cask

See all 31 meanings of cant