[kan-ter] 
| 1. | an easy gallop. |
| 2. | to move or ride at a canter. |
[kant] | 1. | a salient angle. |
| 2. | a sudden movement that tilts or overturns a thing. |
| 3. | a slanting or tilted position. |
| 4. | an oblique line or surface, as one formed by cutting off the corner of a square of cube. |
| 5. | an oblique or slanting face of anything. |
| 6. | Civil Engineering. bank 1 (def. 6). |
| 7. | a sudden pitch or toss. |
| 8. | Also called flitch. a partly trimmed log. |
| 9. | oblique or slanting. |
| 10. | to bevel; form an oblique surface upon. |
| 11. | to put in an oblique position; tilt; tip. |
| 12. | to throw with a sudden jerk. |
| 13. | to take or have an inclined position; tilt; turn. |
[kahnt] | hearty; merry. |
| can·ter (kān'tər) n. A smooth gait, especially of a horse, that is slower than a gallop but faster than a trot. v. can·tered, can·ter·ing, can·ters v. intr.
To cause (a horse) to go at a canter. [Ultimately from phrases such as Canterbury gallop, after Canterbury, England, toward which pilgrims rode at an easy pace.] Word History: Most of those who have majored in English literature, and many more besides, know that Chaucer's Canterbury Tales were told by a group of pilgrims on their way to Canterbury to visit the shrine of England's famous martyr Thomas à Becket. Many pilgrims other than Chaucer's visited Canterbury on horse, and phrases such as Canterbury gallop, Canterbury pace, and Canterbury trot described the easy gait at which they rode to their destination. The first recorded instance of one of these phrases, Canterbury pace, is found in a work published before 1636. However, in a work written in 1631 we find a shortened form, the noun Canterbury, meaning "a canter," and later, in 1673, the verb Canterbury, meaning "to canter." This verb, or perhaps the noun, was further shortened, giving us the verb canter, first recorded in 1706, and the noun canter, first recorded in 1755. |
canter
a three-beat collected gait of a horse during which one or the other of the forelegs and both hind legs lead practically together, followed by the other foreleg and then a complete suspension when all four legs are off the ground
Learn more about canter with a free trial on Britannica.com.
