Forms: 4–9 cantel, 5–7 cantell, 6– cantle; also 4–5 kantel, -tell, 5 cantelle, -tylle, chantel, 6 cantil, 7 kantle. [a. ONF. cantel (in Central OF. chantel, now chanteau) = Pr. cantel, med.L. cantell-us, dim. of cant, canto, cantus corner. (Du. kant has, among other senses, that of ‘piece’ or ‘cantle’ of bread.)]
† 1. A nook or corner; a corner-piece. Obs.
c. 1350. Magdalena, 383, in, Altengl. Leg. (Horstmann). Opon þe heiȝe hurst in a grene cantel.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 4232. The kyng with Calaburne knyghtly hym strykes The cantelle of þe clere schelde he kerfes in sondyre.
c. 1420. Anturs Arth., xli. He keruet of the cantel, that couurt the knyȝte, Thro his shild and his shildur.
1575. in Laneham’s Let. (1871), 42. A rich skarlet mantell, With a-leauen kings beards bordred aboout … and yet in a cantell Iz leaft a place, the twelth to make oout.
1605. Verstegan, Dec. Intell., v. (1628), 150. A nooke or corner being in our ancient language called a kant, or cantell.
† b. A projecting corner or angle of land Obs.
1583. Stanyhurst, Æneis, III. (Arb.), 86. A cantel of Italye neereth.
1599. Hakluyt, Voy., II. 87. Constrained to leave the sayd plaine, save a cantell that was toward the sea.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit., I. 601. It runneth far into the sea with a long cantle or Promontory.
1692. Luttrell, Brief Rel. (1857), II. 613. A road to be made … crosse a cantell of land.
† 2. A corner or other portion cut or sliced off; a shiver, a slice. Obs.
c. 1400. Melayne, 1032. Thay hewe theire scheldes to thaire handis In cantells hyngand by.
c. 1430. Syr Gener., 5934. Of his sheld floȝ of a grete cantel.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, I. xvi. But the stroke of kynge Ban felle doune and carfe a cantel of the sheld.
1530. Palsgr., 202/2. Cantell or shyver, chanteau.
1600. Fairfax, Tasso, VI. xlviii. 103. Their armours forged were of metalle fraile, On euery side, thereof huge cantels flies.
1627. Drayton, Agincourt (1631), 58. The English … Cut into Cantles all that them withstood.
3. A section, or segment, cut out of anything.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 60. Cantel, of what euer hyt be, quadra, minutal.
1574. Hellowes, Gueuara’s Ep. (1577), 12. The vniuersall earth, which … by the ambition of men hath bene diuided into cantels.
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., I. i. See, how this Riuer … cuts me from the best of all my Lands, A huge halfe Moone, a monstrous Cantle out.
1653. H. Cogan, Diod. Sic., 119. Those great cantles of the Marble, which … they have hewed and cut off from the Quarry.
1823. Lamb, Last Ess. Elia, Superan. Man, 441. The huge cantle which it used to seem to cut out of the holiday.
1871. M. Collins, Mrq. & Merch., I. i. 8. It has always cut an awkward cantle out of my property here.
b. A thick slice or ‘cut’ of bread, cheese, meat, or the like.
c. 1475. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 772. Hec quadra, a cantel of brede.
a. 1528. Skelton, Elynour Rum., 429. A cantell of Essex chese.
1552. Huloet, Cantel or shief of bread, minutal.
1627. Feltham, Low-Countr. (1677), 46. A Cantle of green Cheese.
1737. Ozell, Rabelais, II. xxx. At the price of a cantle of bread.
1804. Duncumb, Herefords. Gloss. (E. D. S.), Cantle, a piece of bread or cheese.
† c. A segment of a circle or sphere. Obs.
1551. Recorde, Pathw. Knowl., I. Def., If that part be separate from the rest of the circle … then ar both partes called cantelles. Ibid. Halfe globys and canteles of a globe.
1606. Shaks., Ant. & Cl., III. x. 6. The greater Cantle of the world is lost With very ignorance.
4. A part, a portion (viewed as separate).
c. 1315. Shoreham 33. Al i-hol Mot be thy schryfte, brother; Naȝt tharof a kantel to a prest And a kantel to another.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 2150. Nature hath nat take his bygynnyng Of no partye ne cantel of a thing, But of a thing that parfyt is and stable.
1552. Lett., in Edw. VI.’s Lit. Rem. (1858), II. 418. That you might have soche a cantell of recreation.
1577. Stanyhurst, Descr. Irel., Ep. Ded. Perusing a cantell or parcel of the Irish historie that heere issueth.
1636. Featly, Clavis Myst., xxxi. 401. Time is as it were a portion or cantle of eternity.
1860. Gen. P. Thompson, Audi Alt., III. cxxxix. 116. A huge cantle of the folly.
5. The protuberant part at the back of a saddle; the hind-bow.
1592. Greene, Art Conny catch., II. 5. His sadle is made without any tree, yet hath it cantle and bolsters.
1652. Sir C. Cotterell, Cassandra, II. II. (1676), 138. Nailed it to the cantle of his Saddle.
1859. Rarey, Art Taming Horses, viii. 120. Young men should learn to leap into the saddle by placing both hands on the cantle, as the horse moves.
b. Cantle bar: a bar in the saddle of a camel, in place of the cantle.
1859. W. Gregory, Egypt, I. 50. As the dromedary rises … you … are … brought up by the cantle-bar just in your lower vertebræ.
† 6. The crown of the head. Sc. [perh. from Du. kanteel a battlement, used fig. (Jam.).]
1822. Scott, Nigel, ii. ‘My cantle will stand a clour wad bring a stot down.’
1847–78. Halliwell, Cantle, the head. Northumb.
Mod. To crack his cantle for him.
7. dial. (See quot.)
1817. Willan, W. Riding Yorksh. Gloss., Cantles, the legs, chiefly in young animals.
1847–78. Halliwell, Cantle, the leg of an animal. North.
8. ? (Cf. SCANTLING.)
1536. MS. Acc. St. John’s Hosp., Canterb., To ye sawers for sawyng ko[n]tyll bord. Ibid. (1615), Payd for saing of contellbordes and quarters.
1573. in L’pool Munic. Rec. (1883), I. 110. A cantel of a chest board.
1693. J. Edwards, Bks. O. & N. Test., 428. Cantle [in Heraldry] quasi Scantling.
9. Comb. † cantle-meal, piecemeal; cantle-piece, a side piece of the head of a cask; cf. cant-piece (CANT sb.1 4), and F. chanteau; cantle-wise adv., by cantles, in manner of a cantle (cf. CANTLE v.1 3). See also CANTEL-COPE.
c. 1479. Caxton, Bk. Curtasye (1841), 409 (Mätz.). Men gete it now by *cantelmele.
1699. J. Dickenson, Jrnl. Trav., 46. The *Cantle-pieces of Sugar-Hogsheads.
1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VIII., an. 12 (R.). His garment was a chemew of clothe of siluer, culpond with clothe of golde, of damaske *cantell wise.
