CANTON • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Canton

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/kˈæntən/ Listen

noun

Canton n. A song or canto (Obs.) "Write loyal cantons of contemned love."

Canton n.

A small portion; a division; a compartment. "That little canton of land called the "English pale"" "There is another piece of Holbein's,... in which, in six several cantons, the several parts of our Savior's passion are represented."

A small community or clan.

A small territorial district; esp. one of the twenty-two independent states which form the Swiss federal republic; in France, a subdivision of an arrondissement. See Arrondissement.

(Her.) A division of a shield occupying one third part of the chief, usually on the dexter side, formed by a perpendicular line from the top of the shield, meeting a horizontal line from the side. "The king gave us the arms of England to be borne in a canton in our arms."

verb

Canton v. i. (past & past part. cantoned; pres. part. cantoning)

To divide into small parts or districts; to mark off or separate, as a distinct portion or division. "They canton out themselves a little Goshen in the intellectual world."

(Mil.) To allot separate quarters to, as to different parts or divisions of an army or body of troops.

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Etymology of 'Canton'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Canton" Quotes from Famous Books

... withdrawn from Turkish control, but "should receive a large measure of administrative self-government . . . with a Christian governor." To these proposals the Russian Government gave a conditional assent. Lord Salisbury further claimed that the Sultan should have the right "to canton troops on the frontiers of southern Bulgaria"; and that the militia of that province should be commanded by officers appointed by the Sultan with the consent of Europe. England also undertook to see that the cause of the ...

— The Development of the European Nations, 1870-1914 (5th ed.) • John Holland Rose

... we of this canton owe the presence among us of Baron Seraphitus, the beloved cousin of Swedenborg, enabled me to know all the events of the extraordinary life of that prophet. He has lately been accused of imposture in certain quarters of Europe, and the public prints reported ...

— Seraphita • Honore de Balzac

... had arrived at Chur from Vienna, having taken the route through Milan and across the Splugen Pass. Although he was very short of funds, upon reaching the capital of the canton of Grisons he had put up at the Hotel Steinbock, the best and most expensive in the place. It was his opinion that he owed this mark of respect to Count Larinski; such duties he held to be very sacred, and he fulfilled them religiously. He was in a very melancholy mood, and ...

— Samuel Brohl & Company • Victor Cherbuliez

... of putting a possible accuser out of his way. All of which he confessed next day, like a sulky wretch who couldn't be troubled any more, now that they had got hold of him, and meant to make an end of him. I saw him once again, on the day of my departure from the Inn. In that Canton the headsman still does his office with a sword; and I came upon this murderer sitting bound, to a chair, with his eyes bandaged, on a scaffold in a little market-place. In that instant, a great sword ...

— The Holly-Tree • Charles Dickens

... have been engaged in the opium trade with the largest houses in Canton, all ten times richer than ever I was. You have no idea, in Europe, what these rich East India merchants are. I went to Asia Minor and purchased opium at low prices, and from thence to Canton where I delivered my cargoes to the companies who ...

— Modeste Mignon • Honore de Balzac

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