1. Monotonous talk filled with platitudes. 2. Hypocritically pious language. 3. The special vocabulary peculiar to the members of an underworld group; argot. 4.Cant See Shelta. 5. Whining speech, such as that used by beggars. 6. The special terminology understood among the members of a profession, discipline, or class but obscure to the general population; jargon. See synonyms at dialect.
INTRANSITIVE VERB:
Inflected forms: cant·ed, cant·ing, cants 1. To speak tediously or sententiously; moralize. 2. To speak in argot or jargon. 3. To speak in a whining, pleading tone.
ETYMOLOGY:
Anglo-Norman cant, song, singing, from canter, to sing, from Latin cantre. See kan- in Appendix I.
k
nt
re. See kan- in Appendix I.
ing·ly —ADVERB
