canton

plural cantons · alternative kanton

1. A division of a political unit.

   These three millions live in a small canton of Egypt which cannot maintain twenty thousand people

   1912, Joseph McCabe (translator), We Must Take Sides; or, The Principle of Action (originally by Voltaire)

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   20 May, 1686, Gilbert Burnet, letter from Nimmengen There is another piece of Holbein's, […] in which, in six several cantons, the several parts of our Saviour's passion are represented.

   1. One of the states comprising the Swiss Confederation.
   2. An administrative division within a department in France, often being a subdivision of an arrondissement.

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      According to a peasant novelist from the Bourbonnais, this was just as true in the 1840s as it was before the Revolution: "We had not the slightest notion of the outside world. Beyond the limits of the canton, and beyond the known distances, lay mysterious lands that were thought to be dangerous and inhabited by barbarians."

      2007, Graham Robb, quoting an unnamed writer, “Chapter 2: The Tribes of France, I”, in The Discovery of France: A Historical Geography, W.W. Norton and Company, →ISBN, page 44

   3. A division of Luxembourg, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, etc.
   4. obsoleteA subdivision of a county, of Quebec, Canada; equivalent to a township.
2. A small community or clan.
3. A subdivision of a flag, the rectangular inset on the upper hoist (i.e., flagpole) side, the upper-left quadrant of a flag, (the stars of the US national flag are in a canton).
4. governmentA division of a shield occupying one third of the chief, usually on the dexter side, formed by a perpendicular line from the top meeting a horizontal line from the side.

   The king gave us the arms of England to be borne in a canton in our arms.

   1662 August 30 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 21 August 1662]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […]; and sold by John and Arthur Arch, […], published 1819, →OCLC

present singular third person cantons · participle present cantoning · participle past cantoned · past cantoned · alternative kanton

1. transitiveTo delineate as a separate district.
2. transitiveTo divide into cantons.
3. transitiveTo quarter troops by requisitioning housing from the civilian population.

   To the end of husbanding the supplies, he will cause to be cantoned in the cities and villages the greatest possible numbers of troops

   1854, O. F. Winship, E. E. McLean (translators), Summary of the Art of War (originally by Antoine-Henri Jomini)

4. intransitiveTo be allotted such quarters.

   An army, falling back upon its lines of magazines, may … make its retreat with more security than one which has to canton, to subsist, and to extend itself to find cantonments.

   1854, O. F. Winship, E. E. McLean (translators), Summary of the Art of War (originally by Antoine-Henri Jomini)

plural cantons

1. obsoleteA song or canto.

   Write loyal cantons of contemnèd love / And sing them loud even in the dead of night.

   c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v]

1. Several places in China:
   1. Guangzhou, the capital and largest city of Guangdong, China.

      In China, a combination of television, radio, posters, inexpensive print is used with great effectiveness as reenforcement for programs to teach Mandarin Chinese. I have observed this admirable program in Canton.

      1974, J. Roby Kidd, Whilst Time is Burning, International Development Research Centre, page 51

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      The Province of Quantung lies along upon the Sea-ſhore, having many convenient Havens and Harbors ; it contains ten Counties, and eighty great and ſmall Cities. Quancheu, or Canton by the Portugals, is the Metropolis and chief of the Province ; exceedingly beautified with Pagodes, Palaces, ſtately Structures, and Triumphal Arches ; fortified with ſtrong Walls, Towers, Bulwarks and Redoubts, defended by five Caſtles.

      1693, Robert Morden, “Of China”, in Geography Rectified; or a Description of the World, 3rd edition, →OCLC, pages 441–442

      Canton is alſo the name of a large, populous, and wealthy city and port-town of China, ſituated on the river Ta, about fifty miles from the Indian ocean... It is a fortified place, within the walls of which no Chriſtians are permitted to enter, notwithſtanding their great trade thither; it being from thence that they import all manner of Chineſe goods, as china-ware, tea, cabinets, raw and wrought ſilks, gold-duſt, &c.

      1771, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1st ed., Vol. II, p. 28

      Though much of the mountain land is still in forest and not occupied by man, the fertile valleys and extended plains are very thickly settled, so that China’s population to the square mile is very great. The most populous city is probably Canton, with a million and a half inhabitants, then comes Peking, the capital, and other seaports and centers of population, as Shanghai, Foochow, Han-kow, etc.

      1895, Rosswell Hobart Graves, Forty Years in China: Or, China in Transition, Baltimore: R. H. Woodward Company, pages 14–15

      The earliest pioneer of British free trade in Canton was Mr. William Jardine, founder of the still flourishing firm of Jardine, Matheson, and Co., who visited China off and on between the years 1802 and 1818, and resided in Canton continuously from 1820 to January 31, 1839.

      1920, Cades Alfred Middleton Smith, The British in China and Far Eastern Trade, London: Constable & Co. Ltd., page 23

      Four days later Chiang Kai-shek, now commander-in-chief of the garrisons in Canton, was in full control of the city. The left wing of the Kuomintang was firmly established in power, and Chiang was its acknowledged head.

      1938, Robert Berkov, Strong Man of China: The Story of Chiang Kai-shek, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, page 49

   2. Guangdong, a province of China.

      He left the junk at Shan-wei in the province of Canton, and from there took a boat which conveyed him to Macao.

      1854, John Kesson, chapter XVI, in The Cross and the Dragon, or the Fortunes of Christianity in China: with notices of the Christian Missions and Missionaries, and some account of the Chinese secret societies, Smith, Elder, and Co., →OCLC, page 229

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      XVIII. Quanton, or Canton, lies Eaſt and South from Quanſi, and is the moſt Southern Province of the Empire. Nieuhoff ſays, here are ſeveral ſafe Harbours and Roads, that it produces all Neceſſaries for Life, and has two Harveſts a year. Their Winter is very warm, and their Fields always verdant.

      1721, John Senex, A New General Atlas, Containing A Geographical And Historical Account Of All The Empires, Kingdoms And Other Dominions Of The World, London, →OCLC, page 216

      The black tea imported by the East-India Company is grown and manufactured in the province of Fokien, with the exception of about one-third of that sort called by us bohea, which third part is produced in the north-eastern corner of the province of Canton, in a district called Wo-Ping, which gives its name to the tea in question.

      1830, Reports from the Select Committee of the House of Commons Appointed to Enquire Into the Present State of the Affairs of the East-India Company, London, page 29

      MANY travellers have passed up the Canton river, and by the way of Nanhiung, over the Meiling Pass and across the Poyang Lake, reached the Yangtsze Kiang through the province of Kiangsi; while very few have reached the same Great River through the province of Hunan, across the Tungting Lake and over the same range of hills, further west, by way of Loh-chang in the province of Canton.

      1861, W. Dickson, “Narrative of an overland trip, through Hunan, from Canton to Hankow”, in Journal of the North-China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, number 1, Shanghai, published 1865, page 161

      If we look at the map of Canton Province, we observe in the eastern corner the Ch'aou-chow department, with its nine districts. One of them, the Ta-pu district, is throughout inhabited by Hak-kas, the rest by Hok-los.

      1867, E. J. Eitel, “Ethnographic Sketches of the Hak-Ka Chinese”, in N. D. Dennys, editor, Notes and Queries on China and Japan, volume 1, number 5, Hongkong: Charles A. Saint, page 50

   3. datedThe Pearl River, a river in southern China.

1. A hamlet in Ontario, Canada.
2. Several places in the United States:
   1. A former settlement in El Dorado County, California.
   2. A town in Hartford County, Connecticut.
   3. A city, the county seat of Cherokee County, Georgia.
   4. A city in Fulton County, Illinois.
   5. An unincorporated community in Washington Township, Washington County, Indiana.
   6. An unincorporated community in Jackson County and Jones County, Iowa.
   7. A small city in McPherson County, Kansas; named for the city in Ohio.
   8. A small town in Oxford County, Maine; named for the town in Massachusetts.
   9. A neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland.
   10. A town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts.
   11. A township in Wayne County, Michigan.
   12. A tiny city in Fillmore County, Minnesota; named for the city in Ohio.
   13. A city, the county seat of Madison County, Mississippi.
   14. A small city in Lewis County, Missouri; named for the city in Ohio.
   15. A submerged ghost town in Broadwater County, Montana.
   16. An unincorporated community in Lower Alloways Creek Township, Salem County, New Jersey.
   17. A town and village in St. Lawrence County, New York; the village is the county seat.
   18. A town in Haywood County, North Carolina; named for the city in Ohio.
   19. A city, the county seat of Stark County, Ohio.
   20. A small town in Blaine County, Oklahoma.
   21. A borough of Bradford County, Pennsylvania; named for the town in Massachusetts.
   22. A city, the county seat of Lincoln County, South Dakota.
   23. A city, the county seat of Van Zandt County, Texas.
   24. An unincorporated community in Doddridge County, West Virginia.
   25. A small town in Buffalo County, Wisconsin.
   26. An unincorporated community in Barron County, Wisconsin.

1. An inner city district and community in Cardiff, Wales (OS grid ref ST1676).

1. A topographical surname from French.