Cant vs Scant - What's the difference?
cant | scant |
(countable) An argot, the jargon of a particular class or subgroup.
* 1836 , Three discourses preached before the Congregational Society in Watertown,
(countable, uncountable) A private or secret language used by a religious sect, gang, or other group.
Shelta.
(uncountable, pejorative) Empty, hypocritical talk.
* 1749 , , Book IV ch iv
* 1759-1770 ,
(uncountable) Whining speech, such as that used by beggars.
(countable, heraldry) A blazon of a coat of arms that makes a pun upon the name of the bearer, canting arms.
(obsolete) A call for bidders at a public fair; an auction.
* Jonathan Swift
To speak with the jargon of a class or subgroup.
* Ben Jonson
* Bishop Sanderson
To speak in set phrases.
To preach in a singsong fashion, especially in a false or empty manner.
* Beaumont and Fletcher
(heraldry) Of a blazon, to make a pun that references the bearer of a coat of arms.
(obsolete) To sell by auction, or bid at an auction.
(obsolete) corner, niche
* Ben Jonson
slope, the angle at which something is set.
*
An outer or external angle.
An inclination from a horizontal or vertical line; a slope or bevel; a tilt.
A movement or throw that overturns something.
* 1830 , The Edinburgh Encyclopedia, volume 3,
A sudden thrust, push, kick, or other impulse, producing a bias or change of direction; also, the bias or turn so give.
(coopering) A segment forming a side piece in the head of a cask.
A segment of the rim of a wooden cogwheel.
(nautical) A piece of wood laid upon the deck of a vessel to support the bulkheads.
To set (something) at an angle.
To give a sudden turn or new direction to.
To bevel an edge or corner.
To overturn so that the contents are emptied.
(British, dialect) lively, lusty.
Very little, very few.
Not full, large, or plentiful; scarcely sufficient; scanty; meager; not enough.
* Ridley
Sparing; parsimonious; chary.
* Shakespeare
To limit in amount or share; to stint.
* Shakespeare
* Francis Bacon
* Dryden
To fail, or become less; to scantle.
(masonry) A block of stone sawn on two sides down to the bed level.
(masonry) A sheet of stone.
(wood) A slightly thinner measurement of a standard wood size.
With difficulty; scarcely; hardly.
* Fuller
As nouns the difference between cant and scant
is that cant is , a hundred while scant is (masonry) a block of stone sawn on two sides down to the bed level.As an adjective scant is
very little, very few.As a verb scant is
to limit in amount or share; to stint.As an adverb scant is
with difficulty; scarcely; hardly.cant
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) , cognate with chant.Noun
(en-noun)- He had the look of a prince, but the cant of a fishmonger.
page 65
- I am aware that the phrase free inquiry has become too much a cant phrase soiled by the handling of the ignorant and the reckless by those who fall into the mistake of supposing that religion has its root in the understanding and by those who can see just far enough to doubt and no further.
- People claim to care about the poor of Africa, but it is largely cant .
- He is too well grounded for all your philosophical cant to hurt.
- Of all the cants' which are canted in this canting world — though the '''cant''' of hypocrites may be the worst — the ' cant of criticism is the most tormenting!
- To sell their leases by cant .
Synonyms
* (private or secret language) argot, jargon, slang * (musical singing) chant, singsongVerb
(en verb)- The doctor here, / When he discourseth of dissection, / Of vena cava and of vena porta, / The meseraeum and the mesentericum, / What does he else but cant ?
- that uncouth affected garb of speech, or canting language, if I may so call it
- the rankest rogue that ever canted
- (Jonathan Swift)
Etymology 2
Noun
(en noun)- The first and principal person in the temple was Irene, or Peace; she was placed aloft in a cant .
- Owing to the cant of the vessel, the masts hung far out over the water, and from my perch on the cross-trees I had nothing below me but the surface of the bay.
- (Totten)
page 621
- It is not only of great service in keeping the boat in her due position on the sea, but also in creating a tendency immediately to recover from any sudden cant , or lurch, from a heavy wave; and it is besides beneficial in diminishing the violence of beating against the sides of the vessel which she may go to relieve.
- to give a ball a cant
- (Knight)
- (Knight)
Verb
(en verb)- to cant''' a cask; to '''cant a ship
- to cant''' round a stick of timber; to '''cant a football
Etymology 3
Etymology 4
From (etyl), presumably from (etyl) *Alternative forms
* kantAdjective
(-)Anagrams
* ----scant
English
Adjective
(er)- "After his previous escapades, Mary had scant reason to believe John."
- a scant''' allowance of provisions or water; a '''scant pattern of cloth for a garment
- His sermon was scant , in all, a quarter of an hour.
- Be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence.
Synonyms
* few, little, slight * (l)Antonyms
* ample, plentyDerived terms
* scantyVerb
(en verb)- to scant''' someone in provisions; to '''scant ourselves in the use of necessaries
- Scant not my cups.
- where man hath a great living laid together and where he is scanted
- I am scanted in the pleasure of dwelling on your actions.
- The wind scants .
Noun
(en noun)Quotations
* (English Citations of "scant")Adverb
(-)- So weak that he was scant able to go down the stairs.
- (Francis Bacon)
