You searched for: “cants
cant (s) (noun), cants (pl)
1. A boring kind of speech that is filled with clichés and platitudes.
2. Insincere talking; especially, regarding morals or religion.
3. Jargon or the special language or vocabulary of a particular group; especially, a group that some people look down on or lack respect for.
4. Etymology: "insincere talk" from 1709; earlier, in 1567, it was slang for "whining of beggars; from Old North French (dialect of northern France before the 1500s) canter, "to sing, to chant", from Latin cantare, canere, "to sing".
This entry is located in the following unit: cant-, chant- (page 1)
cant (verb), cants; canted; canting
1. To talk in a pleading or a whining manner.
2. To speak sanctimoniously or to pretend to mean something, but not being sincere: "If the administrators of the company would quit canting about honest work and be examples of the process, they might achieve their objectives."
This entry is located in the following unit: cant-, chant- (page 1)