Obs. [a. F. cantique, ad. L. canticum: see prec.] A song, a canticle.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 27 b/1. It is said in the Cantykes Canticorum ii Aryse thou my spouse [etc.].
1613. R. C., Table Alph. (ed. 3), Canticke, a song.
1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, I. xxiii. Canticks, made in praise of the divine bounty.
1669. Gale, Crt. Gentiles, I. III. i. 2. We find not … in the Psalter, or Lamentations any Cantic bound up by Laws of Metre.
[1867. Cornh. Mag., 473. A cantique by the village-girls, as trivial and profane as the romances one hears upon the street organs.]
