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Meaning of CANT

Pronunciation:  kânt

WordNet Dictionary
  1. [n]  two surfaces meeting at an angle different from 90 degrees
  2. [n]  stock phrases that have become nonsense through endless repetition
  3. [n]  insincere talk about religion or morals
  4. [n]  a characteristic language of a particular group (as among thieves); "they don't speak our lingo"
  5. [n]  a slope in the turn of a road or track; the outside is higher than the inside in order to reduce the effects of centrifugal force
  6. [adj]  having the slant of a bevel; "a bevel edge"; "a cant buttress"
  7. [v]  heel over; "The tower is tilting"; "The ceiling is slanting"

CANT is a 4 letter word that starts with C.


 Synonyms: argot, bank, bevel, bevel, beveled, buzzword, camber, cant over, chamfer, inclined, jargon, lingo, patois, pious platitude, pitch, slang, slant, tilt, vernacular
 See Also: cock, edge, hokum, incline, meaninglessness, move, nonsense, nonsensicality, non-standard speech, rhyming slang, side, slope, splay, talk, talking



Webster's 1913 Dictionary
  1. \Cant\, n. [OF., edge, angle, prof. from L. canthus the
    1. A corner; angle; niche. [Obs.]
             The first and principal person in the temple was
                                                   --B. Jonson.
    2. An outer or external angle.
       or bevel; a titl. --Totten.
       give; as, to give a ball a cant.
       a cask. --Knight.
       support the bulkheads.
    {Cant frames}, {Cant timbers} (Naut.), timber at the two ends
       of a ship, rising obliquely from the keel.
  2. \Cant\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Canted}; p. pr. & vb. n.
       round a stick of timber; to cant a football.
       timber, or from the head of a bolt.
  3. \Cant\, n. [Prob. from OF. cant, F. chant, singing, in
    allusion to the singing or whining tine of voice used by
    1. An affected, singsong mode of speaking.
       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.
    4. Vulgar jargon; slang; the secret language spoker by
       gipsies, thieves, tramps, or beggars.
  4. \Cant\, a.
    Of the nature of cant; affected; vulgar.
          To introduce and multiply cant words in the most
          ruinous corruption in any language.      --Swift.
  5. \Cant\, v. i.
       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 meser[ae]um and
             the mesentericum, What does he else but cant. --B.
             That uncouth affected garb of speech, or canting
             language, if I may so call it.        --Bp.
    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.
  7. \Cant\, v. t.
    [Archaic] --Swift.
Thesaurus Terms
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