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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
canter
verb
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ A couple of centaurs burst out of the bushes ahead of them and cantered away down the path.
▪ A group of five boys canter up, led by one wearing a stetson.
▪ From walk, they progressed to canter.
▪ He cantered off and rode beside Mitch, and Maggie hoped he was not giving out any threatening advice.
▪ He was much sharper off the leg and could suddenly canter!
▪ Hermes cantered slowly but Tessa, Nora's filly, was close to a gallop.
▪ The two men fell silent as they cantered their horses between low hedgerows that were bright with the early spears of foxgloves.
▪ You will be asked to walk, trot and canter around the ring with the other horses.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Canter

Canter \Cant"er\, n.

  1. One who cants or whines; a beggar.

  2. One who makes hypocritical pretensions to goodness; one who uses canting language.

    The day when he was a canter and a rebel.
    --Macaulay.

Canter

Canter \Can"ter\ (k[a^]n"t[~e]r), n. [An abbreviation of Canterbury. See Canterbury gallop, under Canterbury.]

  1. A moderate and easy gallop adapted to pleasure riding.

    Note: The canter is a thoroughly artificial pace, at first extremely tiring to the horse, and generally only to be produced in him by the restraint of a powerful bit, which compels him to throw a great part of his weight on his haunches . . . There is so great a variety in the mode adopted by different horses for performing the canter, that no single description will suffice, nor indeed is it easy . . . to define any one of them.
    --J. H. Walsh.

  2. A rapid or easy passing over.

    A rapid canter in the Times over all the topics.
    --Sir J. Stephen.

Canter

Canter \Can"ter\ (k[a^]n"t[~e]r), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Cantered (k[a^]n"t[~e]rd); p. pr. & vb. n. Cantering.] To move in a canter.

Canter

Canter \Can"ter\, v. t. To cause, as a horse, to go at a canter; to ride (a horse) at a canter.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
canter

1706, from a contraction of Canterbury gallop (1630s), "easy pace at which pilgrims ride to Canterbury" (q.v.). Related: Cantered; cantering.

canter

1755, from canter (v.).

Wiktionary
canter

Etymology 1 n. 1 A gait of a horse between a trot and a gallop, consisting of three beats and a "suspension" phase, where there are no feet on the ground. Also describing this gait on other four legged animals. 2 A ride on a horse at such speed. vb. 1 (context intransitive English) To move at such pace. 2 (context intransitive English) To cause to move at a canter; to ride (a horse) at a canter. Etymology 2

n. 1 One who cants or whines; a beggar. 2 One who makes hypocritical pretensions to goodness; one who uses canting language.

WordNet
canter
  1. n. a smooth 3-beat gait; between a trot and a gallop [syn: lope]

  2. v. ride at a canter; "The men cantered away"

  3. go at a canter, of horses

  4. ride at a cantering pace; "He cantered the horse across the meadow"

Wikipedia
Canter (disambiguation)

A canter is a three-beat gait performed by horses.

Canter may also refer to:

Canter (surname)

Canter is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:

  • Dan Canter, soccer player
  • David Canter, psychologist
  • Jon Canter, scriptwriter
  • Laurence Canter (born 1953), lawyer and Usenet spammer
  • Marc Canter, IT professional
  • Wilhelm Canter (1542–1575), Greek scholar and textual critic

Usage examples of "canter".

The Andalusian moved away from the center of the ring and began to canter in a circle to the left, smoothly and evenly.

At least the thought gave Antonio a small measure of contentment, and he pushed the horse into an easy canter.

More bows and salutations and then Blackthorne was on a horse and they were cantering down the hill.

On and on they cantered, even the Celts beginning to slump, and just as Valeria felt so dizzy, sick, and weak with hunger that she feared she might tumble from her saddle, they finally paused for evening.

He cantered briskly along the great stretch of plain that had nothing but stunted cottonbush to play shadow to the full moon, which glorified a sky of earliest spring.

To which Lord Diegan could do nothing but clench his jaw, wheel his courser out of line, and pound off at a canter to review the order of his troops.

Their horses broke into a canter, and with the swifter movement Domini felt more calm.

Batouch fell back, and Domini cantered on, congratulating herself on the success of her expedient.

As they rode in slowly, for their horses were tired and streaming with heat after their long canter across the sands, both Domini and Androvsky were struck by the novelty of this halting-place, which was quite unlike anything they had yet seen.

A single weird cry, a warbling epiglottal shrilling uncanny in the night, triggered a wild clamor, and the invaders spurred their mounts to a canter, charging downhill at the ylver.

With a bray of pain, the horse lurched forward in an uneven canter Fordyce would have thought impossible seconds before.

I urged Greatheart into a canter, and the noise of the horses crashing through the underbrush drowned everything else.

She rode through one of the villages of old Beni-Mora, silent, unlighted, with empty streets and closed cafes maures, touched her horse with the whip, and cantered on at a quicker pace.

Forester had marked down into the bog meadow, not one bird escaped, and of that bevy not one bird did Frank miss, killing twelve, all of them double shots, to his own share, and beating Archer in a canter.

A Life Guard raked back with his spurs and his horse lumbered into an unwilling canter.