canto

[ kan-toh ]

noun,plural can·tos.

one of the main or larger divisions of a long poem.

Origin of canto

1580–90; <Italian <Latin cant(us) singing, song, equivalent to can(ere) to sing + -tus suffix of v. action; cf. cant¹, chant

Words Nearby canto

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use canto in a sentence

The little town of canto Gallo is situated in a narrow valley, and contains about eighty houses.
A Woman's Journey Round the World | Ida Pfeiffer
I had found lodgings in a venda for the last time, the preceding evening, at canto Gallo.
A Woman's Journey Round the World | Ida Pfeiffer
In fact, eleven stanzas (183-259) correspond to Boccaccio's Teseide, canto vii.
Chaucer's Works, Volume 1 (of 7) -- Romaunt of the Rose; Minor Poems | Geoffrey Chaucer
This second canto is a delight from beginning to end; Mistral is here in his element; he is at his very best.
Frdric Mistral | Charles Alfred Downer
This canto never would have converted Boileau from his disapproval of the "merveilleux chrétien."
Frdric Mistral | Charles Alfred Downer

British Dictionary definitions for canto

canto

/ (ˈkæntəʊ) /

nounplural -tos

music another word for cantus (def. 2)
a main division of a long poem

Origin of canto

C16: from Italian: song, from Latin cantus, from canere to sing

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Browse