canst

American  

[kanst] / kænst /

verb

Archaic.

1. 2nd person singular present tense of can.

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canst British  

/ kænst /

verb

1. archaic when used with the pronoun thou or its relative form, a form of can 1

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Example Sentences

When Romeo, after secretly marrying Juliet, encounters truculent Tybalt, he tells him, “I do protest I never injured thee,/But love thee better than thou canst devise,/Till thou shall know the reason of my love.”

From Los Angeles Times

“Thou canst but try,” said John.

From Literature

“Canst thou climb the ladder or wilt go pickaback? Tis a great height, but there are resting places.”

From Literature

Some of the lines most applicable today: “Give thy thoughts no tongue, nor any unproportion’d thought his act. . . . Give every man thy ear but few thy voice. Be thou familiar but by no means vulgar. . . . This above all: to thine own self be true. . . . And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.”

From Washington Post

We can picture the son’s eyes darting impatiently toward his waiting ship as his father prattles on about friendship, money management, proper attire and so on, until he finally finishes, 26 lines later, with the famous flourish: “To thine own self be true / And it must follow, as the night the day, / Thou canst not then be false to any man.”

From Washington Post