CANT, a quaint affected manner of speaking, adapted chiefly to the lower sort. Skinner racks his invention for the origin of this word; which he successively deduces from the German, Flemish, and Saxon tongues. According to the general opinion, Cant is originally the proper name of a Cameronian preacher in Scotland, who by exercise had obtained the faculty of talking in the pulpit in such a tone and dialect as was understood by none but his own congregation: since
Andrew Cant's time, the word has been extended to signify all sudden exclamations, and whining unmusical tones, especially in praying and preaching. But this origin of the word has been disputed by others; and perhaps the true derivation is from the Latin cantare "to sing."