Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- Affectedly or hypocritically pious; whining: as, a canting hypocrite; a canting tone of voice.
- In heraldry, allusive; descriptive of the bearer's name, estate, or the like. See
allusive arms , under arm. - Of the nature of professional cant or jargon: used by or peculiar to a particular class, profession, or subject: as, canting terms; canting language.
- noun The act of speaking in a whining tone; an apparently insincere use of religious or pious phraseology.
- noun The use of the terms or phraseology of a particular class, as of beggars, thieves, gipsies, tramps, etc., or of a particular profession or subject.
- noun Sale by auction.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The use of cant; hypocrisy.
- adjective Speaking in a whining tone of voice; using technical or religious terms affectedly; affectedly pious.
- adjective (Her.) bearings in the nature of a rebus alluding to the name of the bearer. Thus, the
Castletons bear three castles, and Pope Adrian IV. (Nicholas Breakspeare) bore a broken spear.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb Present participle of
cant .
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Evident since the fourteenth century, a submerged tradition of poems written in canting speech has developed with increasing resonance, sometimes in conjunction with the dominant literary tradition.
Club Monad 2008
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The re-canting is irrelevant, nobody believed him from day one which was long before Bushie invaded Iraq.
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If he prayed, or gave them good counsel, they would banter it, and call it canting; if he kept silence from good, when the wicked were before him, they would say that he had forgotten his religion now that he was sick.
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume III (Job to Song of Solomon) 1721
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We must therefore be content with the word canting for arms which include pictorial puns.
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Both bearings are founded on what is called canting heraldry, a species of art disowned by the writers on the science, yet universally made use of by those who practise the art of blazonry.
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'God has afflicted her,' so this simple-minded native, whom many men in their unthinking moments would call a canting, naked kanaka, says; but God has
Susâni 1901 Louis Becke 1884
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Punning (sometimes called canting) bookplates use an image relating to the owner's name.
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Like the old crests of heraldry, with their "canting" mottoes beneath, they are history in little, a war or a revolution distilled into the powerful attar of a single phrase.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 05, No. 30, April, 1860 Various
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Persevering, steady, crafty, and possessing, to an eminent degree, that happy art of "canting" which opens the readiest way to character and consequence, the rise and reputation of Mr. Vavasour
The Disowned — Complete Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 1838
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Persevering, steady, crafty, and possessing, to an eminent degree, that happy art of "canting" which opens the readiest way to character and consequence, the rise and reputation of Mr. Vavasour Mordaunt appeared less to be wondered at than envied; yet, even envy was only for those who could not look beyond the surface of things.
The Disowned — Volume 05 Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 1838
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