Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Cant

Cant (kănt), n. [OF., edge, angle, prof. from L. canthus the iron ring round a carriage wheel, a wheel, Gr. κανθός 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.

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.

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.

Cant (kănt), a. Of the nature of cant; affected; vulgar.

To introduce and multiply cant words in the most ruinous corruption in any language. Swift.

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 meseræum 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.

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.

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

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.