cantle

Definition

A splinter, slice, or sliver broken off something.

Etymology

From Middle English cantle, cantel, from Old Northern French cantel, Old French chantel (Modern French chanteau, Bourguignon chainteâ), from Medieval Latin cantellus, diminutive of Latin cantus (“corner”). Compare cant (Etymology 3).

Example Sentences

• "See how this river comes me cranking in, / And cuts me from the best of all my land / A huge half-moon, a monstrous cantle out."
• "Their armors forged were of metal frail; / On every side thereof huge cantles flies; / The land was strewed all with plate and mail, / That on the earth, on that their warm blood lies."
• "In one cantle of his law."