cant

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun Angular deviation from a vertical or horizontal plane or surface; an inclination or slope.
• noun A slanted or oblique surface.
• noun A thrust or motion that tilts something.
• noun The tilt caused by such a thrust or motion.
• noun An outer corner, as of a building.
• intransitive verb To set at an oblique angle; tilt.
• intransitive verb To give a slanting edge to; bevel.
• intransitive verb To change the direction of suddenly.
• intransitive verb To lean to one side; slant.
• intransitive verb To take an oblique direction or course; swing around, as a ship.
• noun Tedious or hackneyed language, especially when used sanctimoniously.
• noun The special vocabulary peculiar to the members of an underworld group; argot.
• noun The special vocabulary of a profession, discipline, or social group; jargon.
• noun Whining or singsong speech, such as that used by beggars.
• intransitive verb To speak tediously or sanctimoniously.
• intransitive verb To speak in argot or jargon.
• intransitive verb To speak in a whining or singsong voice.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To put or set at an angle; tilt or move from a horizontal line: as, to cant or cant up a plank; to cant over a pail or cask.
• Nautical, to turn (something) so that it is no longer fair and square; give (a ship) an inclination to one side, as in preparing her to be careened.
• To set upon edge, as a stone.
• To throw with a sudden jerk; toss: as, to cant a ball.
• To cut off an angle of, as of a square piece of timber.
• To tilt or incline; have a slant.
• To speak with a whining voice or in an affected or assumed tone; assume a particular tone and manner of speaking for the purpose of exciting compassion, as in begging; hence, to beg.
• To make pharisaical, hypocritical, or whining pretensions to goodness; affect piety without sincerity; sham holiness.
• To talk in a, certain special jargon; use the words and phraseology peculiar to a particular sect, party, profession, and the like.
• To use as a conventional phraseology or jargon.
• noun Something given in charity.
• noun A corner; an angle; a niche.
• noun The corner of a field.
• noun An external or salient angle: as, a six-canted bolt, that is, one of six cants, or of which the head has six angles.
• noun One of the segments forming a side piece in the head of a cask.
• noun A ship's timber, near the bow or stern, lying obliquely to the line of the keel.
• noun A piece of wood which supports the bulkheads on a vessel's deck.
• noun A log that has received two side cuts in a sawmill and is ready for the next cut.
• noun An inclination from a horizontal line; a sloping, slanting, or tilted position.
• noun A toss, thrust, or push with a sudden jerk: as, to give a ball a cant.
• noun In whale-fishing, a cut in a whale between the neck and fins.
• noun An auction; sale by auction. Grose.
• Bold; strong; hearty; lusty. Now usually canty (which see).
• To sell by auction.
• To enhance or increase, as by competitive bidding at an auction.
• To recover or mend; grow strong.
• noun An oblique line which cuts off a corner of a rectangle; an oblique side of a polygon; an oblique plane which cuts off the corner of a cuboid; an oblique face of a crystal; a slanting face of a bank.
• noun A sudden movement, as on board ship, resulting in a tilting up.
• noun One of the pieces which form the ends of the buckets on a water-wheel.
• noun A whining or singing manner of speech; specifically, the whining speech of beggars, as in asking alms.