▪ I. canting, vbl. n.1
(ˈkæntɪŋ)
[f. cant v.2 + -ing1.]
The action of the vb. cant; tilting, sloping, turning over or about. a. trans. b. intr.
| 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1789), Canting..the act of turning any thing about. c 1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 105 Canting, the act of turning anything completely over, so that the under surface shall lie upwards. 1865 Specif. Plimpton's Patent No. 2190 These springs..control the turning, tilting, or canting of the stock or foot stand [of the roller skate]. 1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. III. x. v. 262 Friedrich Wilhelm is amazed at these sudden cantings of Fortune's wheel. |
† c. (See quot.) Obs.
| 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 102 It cannot well be call'd motion..But 'tis somewhat else that we have no right name for, (unless skipping or canting may in a low sort speak it). |
▪ II. ˈcanting, vbl. n.2
[f. cant v.3 + -ing1.]
1. The practice of using thieves' cant; the secret language or jargon used by thieves, professional beggars, etc.; see cant n.3 4 a.
| 1567 Harman Caveat (1869) 23 Their languag—which they term peddelars Frenche or Canting—began but within these xxx. yeeres. 1577 Harrison England ii. x. (1877) i. 218 They [beggers] haue devised a language among themselues, which they name ‘canting’; but other ‘pedlers French’, a speach compact thirtie yeares. 1641 Brome Jov. Crew ii. Wks. 1873 III. 392, I understand their canting. 1670 Cotton Espernon ii. vii. 327 Le Plessis in the Canting of that Cypher was call'd Floze. 1690 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Canting, the Cypher or Mysterious Language, of Rogues, Gypsies, Beggers, Thieves, etc. 1725 in New Cant. Dict. |
2. The use of the special phraseology of a particular class or subject (always contemptuous); jargon, gibberish; see cant n.3 4 b.
| 1625 B. Jonson Staple of N. iv. iv, Pyc. She bears, Argent, three Leeks vert, In Canton Or, and tassel'd of the first. Pen. Can. Is not this Canting? 1651 Hobbes Leviath. 21 Hypostatical, transubstantiate, consubstantiate..and the like canting of Schoolemen. 1693 Phil. Trans. XVII. 799 Nothing but Canting, and a Jargon of Scraps. |
| attrib. 1812 D'Israeli Calam. Auth. (1867) 146 The canting dictionary of criticism. |
3. Unreal or affected use of language; spec. the formal use of religious or pietistic phrases; hypocritical talk; see cant n.3, 5 b, 6. In 17th c. applied in ridicule to the preaching of Presbyterians and Puritans; hence canting coat, the Geneva gown, or coat of the Puritan minister.
| 1659 Character Engl. in Harl. Misc. X. 191 [The Presbyterians]..make an insipid, tedious, and immethodical prayer, in phrases and a tone so affected and mysterious that they give it the name of canting: a term by which they do usually express the gibberish of beggars and vagabonds. 1687 Dryden Hind & P. iii. 232 Quit the Cassock for the Canting-coat. 1698 Norris Pract. Disc. 190 Canting I call using Words without any real Sense or Notion under them. 1722 Sewel Hist. Quakers (1795) II. vii. 23 Judge. Leave your canting. 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. (1815) 180 Here has been nothing but canting and praying since the fellow entered the place. 1809 Syd. Smith Wks. (1867) I. 141 They hate canting and hypocrisy. |
▪ III. canting, vbl. n.3 north. dial.
(ˈkæntɪŋ)
[f. cant v.4 + -ing1.]
Sale by auction.
| 1651 Newsletter 22 May in ‘Milton’ State Papers (1743) 68 The Venetians made lately an edict that they should sell all the offices within the City, by way of cantinge, to rayse monies. 1691 Ray N.C. Wds., Canting, auctio. 1825 Brockett N. Country Gloss. 37 Canting, a sale by auction, proclaimed publicly on the spot where it is to take place. 1875 Robinson Whitby Gloss. (E.D.S.) s.v., ‘We will call a canting,’ hold a sale. ‘A cannle-canting’ [= sale by inch of candle]. |
▪ IV. canting, vbl. n.4
see cant v.5
▪ V. ˈcanting, ppl. a.1
[f. cant v.2 + -ing2.]
1. That cants, tilts, or turns over; that stands or lies a-tilt; slanting, sloping.
| 1877 E. Peacock N.-W. Linc. Gloss., Canting, sloping on a level. 1880 Daily News 18 Sept. 5/3 A Martin's self-canting anchor. |
2. canting quoin, coin: see quot. and cf. cantic quoin. canting-livre: see cantilever.
| 1626 Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 13 Ballast, kintlage, canting coynes, standing coynes. 1730–6 Bailey, Canting-coins, [in a Ship] are small, short pieces of wood cut with a sharp ridge to lie between the casks, and prevent them from rolling one against another. |
▪ VI. ˈcanting, ppl. a.2
[f. cant v.3 + -ing2.]
That cants or uses cant.
1. Speaking in a sing-song tone; whining.
| 1625 B. Jonson Staple of N. i. v, An old Canting Beggar. 1748 Dodsley Preceptor (1763) I. Introd. 37 Some have a singing or canting voice. 1841 Borrow Zincali I. iv. ii. 278 The whining, canting tones peculiar to the gypsies. |
2. Speaking the dialect of vagabonds, etc.; of the nature of, or belonging to, this dialect; see cant n.3 4 e. (Blending with vbl. n. used attrib.)
| 1592 Groundwork Coney-catch. 99 The manner of their canting speech. 1620 Melton Astrolog. 15 The Gypsies Canting Tongue. 1690 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Canting Crew, Beggers, Gypsies. 1710 Palmer Proverbs 197 A canting catch that common rogues make use of. |
3. Of, pertaining to, or using the phraseology or jargon of a special class or subject.
| 1629 Massinger Picture ii. ii, This is no canting language Taught in your academy. a 1659 Osborn Observ. Turks 341 The custom of Universitie requires..knowledge in the Arts so called, and a nimble mouthing of canting terms. a 1684 Roscommon Ghost Old Ho. Commons (R.) While I..took for oracles that canting tribe [lawyers]. 1704 J. Harris Lex. Techn., Alkahest, one of the Canting Terms of the Alchymists. |
4. Given to using religious or pietistic language formally or affectedly; hypocritical; of, or belonging to, such phrases or pretensions.
| 1663 Flagellum or O. Cromwell 91 A letter..fraught with hypocritical canting expressions. 1703 De Foe Short Way w. Dissenters Misc. 420 You..have set up your Canting Synagogues at our Church-Doors. 1781 Cowper Truth 233 On holy ground Sometimes a canting hypocrite is found. 1864 Burton Scot Abr. I. v. 249 A clamorous quack or canting fanatic. |
5. Her. canting arms: = allusive arms (see allusive 1 b). So canting heraldry, canting herald, canting coat.
| 1727–51 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Arms, Canting Arms are those wherein the figures bear an allusion to the name of the family. 1814 Scott Wav. xiv, Canting heraldry. 1830 ― Monast. xxxiv, A device of a punning or canting herald. 1852 C. M. Yonge Cameos (1877) IV. iii. 38 Boleyn—or Bull-en—had the canting arms of a black bull's head. 1864 Sir F. Palgrave Norm. & Eng. III. 30 His descendants gave a very clever canting coat, a bridge crossing a conventional similitude of water. |
Hence ˈcantingly adv., ˈcantingness.
| 1695 Whether Preserv. Protest. Relig. Motive of Revol. 4 Sycophant Divines..cantingly blow us into Triumphs of Thankfulness and Joy. 1740 Trial Mr. Whitfield's Spirit 40 (R.) In a suffering hour, as he [Whitfield] cantingly expresses it. 1840 Hook in New Monthly Mag. LX. 429 To moralize, not tediously, boringly, or cantingly. |