Definition

1. Noun:

   • A slope or tilt: An angled surface or a deviation from the vertical or horizontal.
   • Hypocritical or sanctimonious talk: Insincere speech, especially concerning morals or religion.
   • Specialized jargon or slang: The characteristic language of a particular group, often used to exclude outsiders.
   • A sudden push or shove that causes tilting.

2. Verb:

   • To tilt or slope: To cause something to lean or slant.
   • To use specialized jargon: To speak in the slang of a particular group.
   • To give a hypocritical or sanctimonious speech.

Examples of Usage

• Noun (Slope/Tilt):

  • The cant of the roof allows for proper drainage.
  • He measured the cant of the leaning tower.

• Noun (Hypocritical Talk):

  • The politician's speech was full of moral cant.
  • I'm tired of his cant about family values.

• Noun (Specialized Jargon):

  • The thieves used a cant that was unintelligible to the police.
  • The technical cant of the engineers was confusing for the new hires.

• Verb (To Tilt):

  • The ship began to cant to starboard.
  • He had to cant the table to stop it from wobbling.

• Verb (To Use Jargon):

  • The programmers were canting about APIs and SDKs.

Advanced Usage

• "To cant over": To tilt or turn over completely.

  • The strong wind caused the small boat to cant over.

• "At a cant": In a tilted or slanted position.

  • The picture hung at a cant on the wall.

Variants and Related Words

• Canted (adj): Slanted, tilted.

  • The canted floor made walking difficult.

• Canting (adj/n): Hypocritically pious; the use of jargon.

  • His canting remarks were unconvincing.

Synonyms

• Noun (Slope): Slope, tilt, incline, angle, bevel.
• Noun (Hypocrisy): Hypocrisy, sanctimony, insincerity, pious platitudes.
• Noun (Jargon): Jargon, slang, argot, lingo, vernacular.
• Verb (To Tilt): Tilt, slant, slope, incline, heel, list.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Cant off: To cut or bevel an edge.

  • The carpenter will cant off the corner of the board.

• Cant up: To raise or tilt something upward.

  • They had to cant up the beam to fit it into place.

Related Idioms

• Full of cant: Describing speech that is hypocritically moralistic.

  • His advice was full of cant and not based on real experience.

• To talk cant: To speak insincerely, especially on moral topics.

  • He talks cant about charity but never donates a penny.

Noun

1. two surfaces meeting at an angle different from 90 degrees
2. insincere talk about religion or morals
3. a characteristic language of a particular group (as among thieves)
   • they don't speak our lingo
4. a slope in the turn of a road or track; the outside is higher than the inside in order to reduce the effects of centrifugal force
5. stock phrases that have become nonsense through endless repetition

Verb

1. heel over
   • The tower is tilting
   • The ceiling is slanting