See Also:

cant(4) (iou)



cant noun1. [kant] ME.
[In branch I from Middle Low German kant point, creek, border, kante side, edge, Middle & mod. Dutch cant border, side, corner, from Proto-Romance var. (repr. by Old French cant, French chant, champ, Spanish, Italian canto edge, corner, side) of Latin cant(h)us iron tyre. In branch II from CANT verb2.]
I. An edge, brink, side. Only in ME.
A corner, an angle; a corner piece; a triangular piece. obsolete exc. dial. E17.
Each of the side-pieces in the head of a cask. E17.
Nautical. Each of the timbers of a ship etc. towards the bow and the stern which are sharply angled from the keel. Also, a supporting timber. L18.
The oblique line or surface which cuts off the corner of a square, cube, etc.; an oblique, inclined, or slanting face. M19.
II.
A sudden movement, esp. a toss, pitch, etc., which overturns. E18.
A slope, a tilt; a deflection from the perpendicular or horizontal. M19.
Comb.: cant-line the space between two strands on the outside of a rope, or between the bilges of two barrels side by side; cantrail a timber or stay supporting the roof of a railway wagon etc.