cant.
An argot, the jargon of a particular class or subgroup.
Meaning & usage
An argot, the jargon of a particular class or subgroup.
He had the look of a prince, but the cant of a fishmonger.
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.
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.
Where this word comes from
From Latin cantō, probably via Old Northern French canter (“sing, tell”). Doublet of chant.
To speak with the jargon of a class or subgroup.
To speak in set phrases.
To talk, beg, or preach in a singsong or whining fashion, especially in a false or empty manner.
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.
Where this word comes from
From Latin cantō, probably via Old Northern French canter (“sing, tell”). Doublet of chant.
Side, edge, corner, niche.
under the cant of a hill
Slope, the angle at which something is set.
A corner (of a building).
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.
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.
Where this word comes from
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.
To set (something) at an angle; to tilt.
to cant a cask
to cant a ship
To give a sudden turn or new direction to.
to cant round a stick of timber
to cant a football
To bevel an edge or corner.
To overturn so that the contents are emptied.
Where this word comes from
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.
To divide or parcel out.
Where this word comes from
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.
A parcel, a division.
Where this word comes from
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.
Lively, lusty.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English cant, kaunt, presumably from Middle Low German *kant, perhaps a slang word related to kant (“edge, rim”), from Medieval Latin canthus. Attested from the 13th or 14th century.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.