Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Chant

Chant (chȧnt), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Chanted; p. pr. & vb. n. Chanting.] [F. chanter, fr. L. cantare, intens. of canere to sing. Cf. Cant affected speaking, and see Hen.] 1. To utter with a melodious voice; to sing.

The cheerful birds . . . do chant sweet music. Spenser.

2. To celebrate in song.

The poets chant in the theaters. Bramhall.

3. (Mus.) To sing or recite after the manner of a chant, or to a tune called a chant.

Chant, v. i. 1. To make melody with the voice; to sing. "Chant to the sound of the viol." Amos vi. 5.

2. (Mus.) To sing, as in reciting a chant.

To chant (or chaunt) horses, to sing their praise; to overpraise; to cheat in selling. See Chaunter. Thackeray.

Chant, n.[F. chant, fr. L. cantus singing, song, fr. canere to sing. See Chant, v. t.] 1. Song; melody.

2. (Mus.) A short and simple melody, divided into two parts by double bars, to which unmetrical psalms, etc., are sung or recited. It is the most ancient form of choral music.

3. A psalm, etc., arranged for chanting.

4. Twang; manner of speaking; a canting tone. [R.]

His strange face, his strange chant. Macaulay.

Ambrosian chant, See under Ambrosian. Chant royal [F.], in old French poetry, a poem containing five strophes of eleven lines each, and a concluding stanza. — each of these six parts ending with a common refrain. — Gregorian chant. See under Gregorian.

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 “?”.