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What is the difference between talk and cant?

talk | cant |

As nouns the difference between talk and cant

is that talk is a conversation or discussion while cant is (countable) an argot, the jargon of a particular class or subgroup or cant can be (obsolete) corner, niche.

As verbs the difference between talk and cant

is that talk is to communicate, usually by means of speech while cant is to speak with the jargon of a class or subgroup or cant can be to set (something) at an angle or cant can be to divide or parcel out.

As a adjective cant is

(british|dialect) lively, lusty.

talk

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A conversation or discussion.
  • * , chapter=12
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=All this was extraordinarily distasteful to Churchill.
  • A lecture.
  • (preceded by the) A major topic of social discussion.
  • (not preceded by an article) Empty boasting, promises or claims.
  • Synonyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * all talk * baby talk * betalk * big talk * boy talk * chalk talk/chalk and talk * cross talk/crosstalk * dirty talk * girl talk * happy talk * idle talk * man talk * peace talk * pep talk * pillow talk * self-talk * shop talk * side talk * sleep talk * small talk * table talk * talk battery * talk bomb * talk is cheap * talk of the town * talk page * talk radio * talk show * talk the talk * talkback * talkie * walk and talk * walk the talk * walkie-talkie

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To communicate, usually by means of speech.
  • * (William Shakespeare)
  • I will buy with you, sell with you, talk with you, walk with you, and so following, but I will not eat with you.
  • * , chapter=4
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=Then he commenced to talk', really '''talk'''. and inside of two flaps of a herring's fin he had me mesmerized, like Eben Holt's boy at the town hall show. He ' talked about the ills of humanity, and the glories of health and Nature and service and land knows what all.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=5 citation , passage=Mr. Campion appeared suitably impressed and she warmed to him. He was very easy to talk to with those long clown lines in his pale face, a natural goon, born rather too early she suspected.}}
  • (informal) To discuss.
  • (slang) To confess, especially implicating others.
  • To criticize someone for something of which one is guilty oneself.
  • To gossip; to create scandal.
  • * , chapter=13
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=“

    Conjugation

    (en-conj-simple)

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Coordinate terms

    * listen

    Derived terms

    * bad-talk * double-talk * fast-talk * look who's talking * now you're talking * sleep-talk * sweet-talk * talk a blue streak * talk a mile a minute * talk about * talk around * talkative * talk back * talk cock * talk dirty * talk down * talker * talk in circles * talk into * talk like an apothecary * talk of * talk of the devil * talk one's way out of * talk out of turn * talk over * talk sense * talk shit/talk shite * talk shop * talk smack * talk someone's ear off * talk someone under the table * talk the talk * talk through one's hat * talk to the hand * talk trash * talk turkey * talk up * talky * trash-talk * you can talk

    Statistics

    * 1000 English basic words ----

    cant

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) , cognate with chant.

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • (countable) An argot, the jargon of a particular class or subgroup.
  • He had the look of a prince, but the cant of a fishmonger.
  • * 1836 , Three discourses preached before the Congregational Society in Watertown, 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.
  • (countable, uncountable) A private or secret language used by a religious sect, gang, or other group.
  • Shelta.
  • (uncountable, pejorative) Empty, hypocritical talk.
  • People claim to care about the poor of Africa, but it is largely cant .
  • * 1749 , , Book IV ch iv
  • He is too well grounded for all your philosophical cant to hurt.
  • * 1759-1770 ,
  • 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!
  • (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 sell their leases by cant .
    Synonyms
    * (private or secret language) argot, jargon, slang * (musical singing) chant, singsong

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To speak with the jargon of a class or subgroup.
  • * Ben Jonson
  • 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 ?
  • * Bishop Sanderson
  • that uncouth affected garb of speech, or canting language, if I may so call it
  • To speak in set phrases.
  • To preach in a singsong fashion, especially in a false or empty manner.
  • * Beaumont and Fletcher
  • the rankest rogue that ever canted
  • (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.
  • (Jonathan Swift)
    (Webster 1913)

    Etymology 2

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) corner, niche
  • * Ben Jonson
  • The first and principal person in the temple was Irene, or Peace; she was placed aloft in a cant .
  • slope, the angle at which something is set.
  • *
  • 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.
  • An outer or external angle.
  • An inclination from a horizontal or vertical line; a slope or bevel; a tilt.
  • (Totten)
  • A movement or throw that overturns something.
  • * 1830 , The Edinburgh Encyclopedia, volume 3, 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.
  • A sudden thrust, push, kick, or other impulse, producing a bias or change of direction; also, the bias or turn so give.
  • to give a ball a cant
  • (coopering) A segment forming a side piece in the head of a cask.
  • (Knight)
  • A segment of the rim of a wooden cogwheel.
  • (Knight)
  • (nautical) A piece of wood laid upon the deck of a vessel to support the bulkheads.
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To set (something) at an angle.
  • to cant''' a cask; to '''cant a ship
  • To give a sudden turn or new direction to.
  • to cant''' round a stick of timber; to '''cant a football
  • To bevel an edge or corner.
  • To overturn so that the contents are emptied.
  • Etymology 3

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To divide or parcel out.
  • Etymology 4

    From (etyl), presumably from (etyl) *

    Alternative forms

    * kant

    Adjective

    (-)
  • (British, dialect) lively, lusty.
  • Anagrams

    * ----