Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The raised rear part of a saddle.
  • noun A corner, segment, or portion; a piece.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A corner; fragment; piece; portion.
  • noun The protuberant part of a saddle behind; the hind bow.
  • To cut into pieces; cut a piece out of.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A corner or edge of anything; a piece; a fragment; a part.
  • noun The upwardly projecting rear part of saddle, opposite to the pommel.
  • transitive verb obsolete To cut in pieces; to cut out from.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun obsolete A splinter, slice, or sliver broken off something.
  • noun The raised back of a saddle.
  • verb obsolete, transitive To cut into pieces.
  • verb obsolete, transitive To cut out from.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the back of a saddle seat

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English cantel, corner, from Old French, from Medieval Latin cantellus, from Vulgar Latin *cantus; see cant.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old Northern French cantel, Old French chantel (Modern French chanteau), from Medieval Latin cantellus, diminutive of Latin cantus ("corner").

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Examples

  • We ' re left to guess, for instance, what it means that a man has his camelhair jacket shoggling over the cantle of the saddle.

    Southwestern Gothic Sam Sacks 2010

  • “Lean back and grasp the cantle,” Mr. Conner instructed.

    Canterwood Crest Triple Fault Katie Kitamura 2009

  • “Lean back and grasp the cantle,” Mr. Conner instructed.

    Canterwood Crest Triple Fault Katie Kitamura 2009

  •   The cantle, in back, was fairly low, about like an American ‘western’ saddle, to make for easy mounting.

    Lord Conrads Crusade Frankowski, Leo 2005

  • Meek-as-milk-water Nightlily leaped ahead so fast that she nearly pitched backward over the cantle.

    Knife of Dreams Jordan, Robert, 1948- 2005

  • She closed her hands tight over the cantle of the rider's saddle, feeling nervous at being mounted with no reins in her hand.

    Ill Met By Moonlight Lackey, Mercedes 2005

  • The Dike, extending from the rough North Sea to the calmer waters of Bridlington Bay, is nothing more than a deep dry trench, skillfully following the hollows of the ground, and cutting off Flamborough Head and a solid cantle of high land from the rest of Yorkshire.

    Mary Anerley Richard Doddridge 2004

  • Grasping the horn in one hand, the cantle in his other, he stiffly pulled himself onto the burro.

    Deuces Wild Dusty Richards 2004

  • Sabin plucked Strongfist's arming cap and helm from the strap behind the saddle cantle and, drawing Lucifer close, reached up to place them on Strongfist's head.

    The Falcons of Montabard Chadwick, Elizabeth 2004

  • Doubtful rights go cheap; and so the foreshore westward of the brook being claimed by divers authorities, a tidy little cantle of it had been leased by Admiral Darling, lord of the manor, to

    Springhaven Richard Doddridge 2004

Comments

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  • A portion or corner, as of land, cut off from a larger whole.

    June 19, 2008