canton

Noun (1)

canton (plural cantons)

1. A division of a political unit.
   • These three millions live in a small canton of Egypt which cannot maintain twenty thousand people1912, Joseph McCabe (translator), We Must Take Sides; or, The Principle of Action (originally by Voltaire)
   • 20 May, 1686, Gilbert Burnet, letter from Nimmengen
     There is another piece of Holbein's, […] in which, in six several cantons, the several parts of our Saviour's passion are represented.
   1. One of the states comprising the Swiss Confederation.
   2. An administrative division within a department in France, often being a subdivision of an arrondissement.
      • According to a peasant novelist from the Bourbonnais, this was just as true in the 1840s as it was before the Revolution: "We had not the slightest notion of the outside world. Beyond the limits of the canton, and beyond the known distances, lay mysterious lands that were thought to be dangerous...2007, Graham Robb, quoting an unnamed writer, “Chapter 2: The Tribes of France, I”, in The Discovery of France: A Historical Geography, W.W. Norton and Company, →ISBN, page 44
   3. A division of Luxembourg, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, etc.
   4. (obsolete) A subdivision of a county, of Quebec, Canada; equivalent to a township.
2. A small community or clan.
3. A subdivision of a flag, the rectangular inset on the upper hoist (i.e., flagpole) side, the upper-left quadrant of a flag, (the stars of the US national flag are in a canton).
4. A division of a shield occupying one third of the chief, usually on the dexter side, formed by a perpendicular line from the top meeting a horizontal line from the side.
   • The king gave us the arms of England to be borne in a canton in our arms.1662 August 30 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 21 August 1662]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition, volume...

Verb

canton (third-person singular simple present cantons, present participle cantoning, simple past and past participle cantoned)

1. (transitive) To delineate as a separate district.
2. (transitive) To divide into cantons.
3. (transitive) To quarter troops by requisitioning housing from the civilian population.
   • To the end of husbanding the supplies, he will cause to be cantoned in the cities and villages the greatest possible numbers of troops1854, O. F. Winship, E. E. McLean (translators), Summary of the Art of War (originally by Antoine-Henri Jomini)
4. (intransitive) To be allotted such quarters.
   • An army, falling back upon its lines of magazines, may … make its retreat with more security than one which has to canton, to subsist, and to extend itself to find cantonments.1854, O. F. Winship, E. E. McLean (translators), Summary of the Art of War (originally by Antoine-Henri Jomini)

Noun (2)

canton (plural cantons)

1. (obsolete) A song or canto.
   • Write loyal cantons of contemnèd love / And sing them loud even in the dead of night.c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Canton

IPA/ˌkænˈtɒn/

Canton

1. Guangzhou, the capital and largest city of Guangdong, China.
   • The Province of Quantung lies along upon the Sea-ſhore, having many convenient Havens and Harbors ; it contains ten Counties, and eighty great and ſmall Cities. Quancheu, or Canton by the Portugals, is the Metropolis and chief of the Province ; exceedingly beautified with Pagodes, Palaces, ſtately...1693, Robert Morden, “Of China”, in Geography Rectified; or a Description of the World, 3rd edition, →OCLC, pages 441–442
   • Canton is alſo the name of a large, populous, and wealthy city and port-town of China, ſituated on the river Ta, about fifty miles from the Indian ocean... It is a fortified place, within the walls of which no Chriſtians are permitted to enter, notwithſtanding their great trade thither; it being...1771, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1st ed., Vol. II, p. 28
2. Guangdong, a province of China.
   • XVIII. Quanton, or Canton, lies Eaſt and South from Quanſi, and is the moſt Southern Province of the Empire. Nieuhoff ſays, here are ſeveral ſafe Harbours and Roads, that it produces all Neceſſaries for Life, and has two Harveſts a year. Their Winter is very warm, and their Fields always verdant.1721, John Senex, A New General Atlas, Containing A Geographical And Historical Account Of All The Empires, Kingdoms And Other Dominions Of The World, London, →OCLC, page 216
   • The black tea imported by the East-India Company is grown and manufactured in the province of Fokien, with the exception of about one-third of that sort called by us bohea, which third part is produced in the north-eastern corner of the province of Canton, in a district called Wo-Ping, which gives...1830, Reports from the Select Committee of the House of Commons Appointed to Enquire Into the Present State of the Affairs of the East-India Company, London, page 29
3. (dated) The Pearl River, a river in southern China.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Canton

Canton

1. A hamlet in Ontario, Canada.
2. A former settlement in El Dorado County, California.
3. A town in Hartford County, Connecticut.
4. A city, the county seat of Cherokee County, Georgia.
5. A city in Fulton County, Illinois.
6. An unincorporated community in Washington Township, Washington County, Indiana.
7. An unincorporated community in Jackson County and Jones County, Iowa.
8. A small city in McPherson County, Kansas; named for the city in Ohio.
9. A small town in Oxford County, Maine; named for the town in Massachusetts.
10. A neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland.
11. A town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts.
12. A township in Wayne County, Michigan.

Proper noun (3) capitalized: Canton

Canton

1. An inner city district and community in Cardiff, Wales (OS grid ref ST1676).

Proper noun (4) capitalized: Canton

Canton

1. A topographical surname from French.