What is "canton"

Canton \Can"ton\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Cantoned; p. pr. & vb. n. Cantoning.] [Cf. F.cantonner.]

1. To divide into small parts or districts; to mark off or separate, as a distinct portion or division.

   They canton out themselves a little Goshen in the intellectual world.
   --Locke.

2. (Mil.) To allot separate quarters to, as to different parts or divisions of an army or body of troops.

Canton \Can"ton\, n. A song or canto [Obs.]

Write loyal cantons of contemned love.
--Shak.

Canton \Can"ton\, n. [F. canton, augm. of OF. cant edge, corner. See 1st Cant.]

1. A small portion; a division; a compartment.

   That little canton of land called the ``English pale''
   --Davies.

   There is another piece of Holbein's, . . . in which, in six several cantons, the several parts of our Savior's passion are represented.
   --Bp. Burnet.

2. A small community or clan.

3. A small territorial district; esp. one of the twenty-two independent states which form the Swiss federal republic; in France, a subdivision of an arrondissement. See Arrondissement.

4. (Her.) A division of a shield occupying one third part of the chief, usually on the dexter side, formed by a perpendicular line from the top of the shield, meeting a horizontal line from the side.

   The king gave us the arms of England to be borne in a canton in our arms.
   --Evelyn.

1530s, "corner, angle," from Middle French canton "piece, portion of a country" (13c.), from Italian (Lombard dialect) cantone "region," especially in the mountains, augmentative of Latin canto "section of a country," literally "corner" (see cant (n.2)). Originally in English a term in heraldry and flag descriptions; applied to the sovereign states of the Swiss republic from 1610s. Related: Cantoned.

Etymology 1 alt. 1 A division of a political unit. 2 # One of the states comprising the Swiss Confederation. 3 # A subdivision of an ''arrondissement'' of France. 4 # A division of Luxembourg, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, etc. 5 A small community or clan. 6 A subdivision of a flag, the rectangular inset on the upper hoist (i.e., flagpole) side (e.g., the stars of the US national flag are in a canton). 7 (context heraldiccharge English) A division of a shield occupying one third of the chief, usually on the dexter side, formed by a perpendicular line from the top meeting a horizontal line from the side. n. 1 A division of a political unit. 2 # One of the states comprising the Swiss Confederation. 3 # A subdivision of an ''arrondissement'' of France. 4 # A division of Luxembourg, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, etc. 5 A small community or clan. 6 A subdivision of a flag, the rectangular inset on the upper hoist (i.e., flagpole) side (e.g., the stars of the US national flag are in a canton). 7 (context heraldiccharge English) A division of a shield occupying one third of the chief, usually on the dexter side, formed by a perpendicular line from the top meeting a horizontal line from the side. vb. To delineate as a separate district. Etymology 2

n. (context obsolete English) A song or canto.

1. v. provide housing for (military personnel) [syn: quarter, billet]

2. divide into cantons, of a country

Canton may refer to:

The canton of a flag is the top inner corner of a flag. It is a common location for another flag to be copied in miniature. For instance, the flags of Australia and New Zealand have the Union Jack as their canton.

1. redirect Canton, Massachusetts

1. redirect Canton, New York

1. redirect Canton, North Carolina

1. redirect Canton, Ohio

Canton was an American basketball team based in Canton, Ohio that was a member of the Central Basketball League. The team replaced the Homestead Young Americans during the 1906/07 Postseason Series.

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

• Bruce Dal Canton, American baseball player
• Frank M. Canton, American gunslinger (not his real name)
• Joanna Canton, American actress
• John Canton, English physicist
• Mark Canton, American film executive and producer
• Neil Canton, American film producer
• William Canton, British writer
• Yediel Canton, Spanish figure skater

Minor people include:

• Michael Canton, Managing Director, Panasonic Norway 1996-1999

A canton is a type of administrative division of a country. In general, cantons are relatively small in terms of area and population when compared to other administrative divisions such as counties, departments or provinces. Internationally the best-known cantons, and the most politically important, are those of Switzerland. As the constituents of the Swiss Confederation, theoretically (and historically) the Swiss cantons are semi-sovereign states.

The term is derived from the French word canton meaning corner or district (from which " Cantonment" is also derived).

Canton is a square charge placed in the upper dexter corner. It is classed by some heraldic writers as one of the honorable ordinaries; but, strictly speaking, it is a diminutive of the Quarter, being two-thirds the area of that ordinary. However, in the roll of Henry III the quarter appears in several coats which in later rolls are blazoned as cantons. The canton, like the quarter, appears in early armory, and is always shown with straight lines.

A canton sinister is a canton placed on the sinister side of the shield.

The chequer, a pane of the field of chequy, can be considered a diminutive of the canton, though it cannot be a charge on its own.

An "enlarged sinister canton" appears in the arms of William Wilde Lotter.

A plain, uncharged canton (sometimes a canton voided is also used this way) can be used as a mark of distinction, that is, not a mark of peculiar honour, but a mark denoting that the bearer is a stranger in blood. For example, a groom, not descended from the bride's family, adopting the bride's last name after the marriage, might upon receipt of a Royal Licence permitting this, use the bride's family's coat of arms with an uncharged canton or canton voided.

Canton is an Italian Italo disco musical group formed in 1983. They entered the 1984 Sanremo Music Festival with the song "Sonnambulismo" (that they later remade in English as "Sleepwalking"), ranking fourth in the 'Nuove proposte' section. The song was a moderate commercial success. In 1985, the songs "Please Don't Stay" and "Stay With Me" (produced by Stock Aitken Waterman) became hits through European charts.