cant
Noun · VerbWordNet 3.0
Noun (5)
- stock phrases that have become nonsense through endless repetitionSynonyms: buzzword
- 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 forceSynonyms: bankcamber
- a characteristic language of a particular group (as among thieves)“they don't speak our lingo”Synonyms: slangjargonlingoargotpatoisvernacular
- insincere talk about religion or moralsSynonyms: pious platitude
- two surfaces meeting at an angle different from 90 degreesSynonyms: bevelchamfer
Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)
To introduce and multiply cant words in the most ruinous corruption in any language. --Swift. [1913 Webster]
1.To speak in a whining voice, or an affected, singsong tone. [1913 Webster]
2.To make whining pretensions to goodness; to talk with an affectation of religion, philanthropy, etc.; to practice hypocrisy; as, a canting fanatic. [1913 Webster]
The rankest rogue that ever canted.— Beau. & Fl.[1913 Webster]
3.To use pretentious language, barbarous jargon, or technical terms; to talk with an affectation of learning. [1913 Webster]
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. Jonson[1913 Webster]
That uncouth affected garb of speech, or canting language, if I may so call it.— Bp. Sanderson.[1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]
2.To give a sudden turn or new direction to; as, to cant round a stick of timber; to cant a football. [1913 Webster]
3.To cut off an angle from, as from a square piece of timber, or from the head of a bolt. [1913 Webster]
1.A corner; angle; niche. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
The first and principal person in the temple was Irene, or Peace; she was placed aloft in a cant.— B. Jonson.[1913 Webster]
2.An outer or external angle. [1913 Webster]
3.An inclination from a horizontal or vertical line; a slope or bevel; a titl. --Totten. [1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]
5.(Coopering) A segment forming a side piece in the head of a cask. --Knight. [1913 Webster]
6.(Mech.) A segment of he rim of a wooden cogwheel. --Knight. [1913 Webster]
7.(Naut.) A piece of wood laid upon the deck of a vessel to support the bulkheads. [1913 Webster]
Cant frames, Cant timbers (Naut.), timber at the two ends of a ship, rising obliquely from the keel. [1913 Webster]
1.An affected, singsong mode of speaking. [1913 Webster]
2.The idioms and peculiarities of speech in any sect, class, or occupation. --Goldsmith. [1913 Webster]
The cant of any profession.— Dryden.[1913 Webster]
3.The use of religious phraseology without understanding or sincerity; empty, solemn speech, implying what is not felt; hypocrisy. [1913 Webster]
They shall hear no cant from me.— F. W. Robertson[1913 Webster]
4.Vulgar jargon; slang; the secret language spoker by gipsies, thieves, tramps, or beggars. [1913 Webster]