cant language

  • 1Cant (language) — This article is about the linguistic concept of a cant. For the Irish Cant (also known as Shelta/Gammon), see Shelta. A Cant (or crypolect) is the jargon or argot of a group, often implying its use to exclude or mislead people outside the… …

    Wikipedia

  • 2Cant — or canting may refer to:*Empty, hypocritical talk See [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cant wiktionary article] *Cant (language), a secret language **Thieves cant **Shelta language or the Cant, a language used by the Irish Travellers *Cant… …

    Wikipedia

  • 3Language game — A language game (also called secret language or ludling) is a system of manipulating spoken words to render them incomprehensible to the untrained ear. Language games are used primarily by groups attempting to conceal their conversations from… …

    Wikipedia

  • 4Cant — Cant, v. i. 1. To speak in a whining voice, or an affected, singsong tone. [1913 Webster] 2. To make whining pretensions to goodness; to talk with an affectation of religion, philanthropy, etc.; to practice hypocrisy; as, a canting fanatic. [1913 …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 5Cant — Cant, n. [Prob. from OF. cant, F. chant, singing, in allusion to the singing or whining tine of voice used by beggars, fr. L. cantus. See {Chant}.] 1. An affected, singsong mode of speaking. [1913 Webster] 2. The idioms and peculiarities of… …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 6cant — now usually means ‘insincere pious or moral talk’: • shameful surrender to the prevalent cant and humbug of the age Daily Telegraph, 1992. Its older (18c–19c) and often derogatory meaning, ‘the secret language or jargon used by certain classes or …

    Modern English usage

  • 7Cant — Cant, a. Of the nature of cant; affected; vulgar. [1913 Webster] To introduce and multiply cant words in the most ruinous corruption in any language. Swift. [1913 Webster] …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 8cant — Ⅰ. cant [1] ► NOUN 1) hypocritical and sanctimonious talk. 2) derogatory language peculiar to a specified group. 3) (before another noun ) denoting a phrase or catchword temporarily current: a cant word. ► VERB dated ▪ talk hypocritically and… …

    English terms dictionary

  • 9cant — [n1] hypocritical statement affected piety, deceit, dishonesty, humbug, hypocrisy, hypocriticalness, insincerity, lip service*, pecksniffery, pharisaicalness, pious platitudes, pomposity, pretense, pretentiousness, sanctimoniousness, sanctimony,… …

    New thesaurus

  • 10language — 1 Language, dialect, tongue, speech, idiom are comparable when they denote a body or system of words and phrases used by a large community (as of a region) or by a people, a nation, or a group of nations. Language may be used as a general term… …

    New Dictionary of Synonyms