canton Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a city on the Zhu Jiang delta in southern China; the capital of Guangdong province and a major deep-water port
    Kwangchow; Guangzhou; Kuangchou.
  2. noun a small administrative division of a country
  3. verb provide housing for (military personnel)
    billet; quarter.
  4. verb divide into cantons, of a country

WordNet


Can"ton noun
Definitions
  1. A song or canto Obs.
    Write loyal cantons of contemned love. Shak.
Can"ton noun
Etymology
F. canton, augm. of OF. cant edge, corner. See 1st Cant.
Definitions
  1. A small portion; a division; a compartment.
    That little canton of land called the "English pale" Davies.
    There is another piece of Holbein's, . . . in which, in six several cantons, the several parts of our Savior's passion are represented. Bp. Burnet.
  2. A small community or clan.
  3. 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.
  4. (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. Evelyn.
Can"ton intransitive verb
Etymology
Cf. F.cantonner.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Cantoned ; present participle & verbal noun Cantoning
Definitions
  1. 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. Locke.
  2. (Mil.) To allot separate quarters to, as to different parts or divisions of an army or body of troops.

Webster 1913