n. & v.
n. 1 insincere pious or moral talk. 2 ephemeral or fashionable catchwords. 3 language peculiar to a class, profession, sect, etc.; jargon.
v.intr. use cant. canting arms Heraldry arms containing an allusion to the name of the bearer.
[ earlier of musical sound, of intonation, and of beggars' whining; perh. from the singing of religious mendicants: prob. f. L canere sing ]