Also 8 cantoo·n. [Partly f. CANTON sb.1, partly repr. F. cantonne-r to quarter, It. cantonare to canton, to corner, f. F. canton, It. cantone: to which the 17th c. cantoon points.]
1. trans. To quarter, divide: a. To divide (land) into portions; to part, share. Also with out.
1598. Florio, Cantonare … Also to canton.
1602. W. Watson, Decacordon, 62, marg. The Iesuits are iolly fellowes to cap crownes, to canton Kingdoms.
1622–62. Heylin, Cosmogr., III. (1673), 159/1. Cantoning his Estates amongst his children.
1701. De Foe, True-born Eng., I. 152. He Canton’d out the Country to his Men, And ev’ry Soldier was a Denizen.
1747. Carte, Hist. Eng., I. 287. The great lords, among whom the country was cantoned.
1875. H. Rogers, Orig. Bible, ii. (ed. 3), 68. How contentedly they ‘cantoned’ out the world amongst them.
b. spec. To subdivide into cantons or districts.
1619. Sir D. Carleton, in Relat. Eng. & Germ., Ser. II. (1868), 7. Follow the example of … the Swisse, in cantoning themselves.
1697. Potter, Antiq. Greece, III. i. (1715), 2. Being canton’d into a great number of States.
1713. Derham, Phys.-Theol., IV. x. 172. They … begun to be Cantoned into distinct Nations.
1769. Blackstone, Comm., IV. 403. Where any kingdom is cantoned out into provincial establishments.
1851. Thirlwall, Charge, 16, note. Hereupon they [the bishops] cantoned their great dioceses into Archdeaconries.
c. transf. To subdivide or cut out (generally).
1653. Consid. Dissolv. Crt. Chancery, 36. The cantoning or cutting of the Courts at Westminster Hall into so many County Courts, or parts.
1667. Decay Chr. Piety, ix. § 10. 303. When they came to be … canton’d out into curious aerial notions.
1720. Welton, Suffer. Son of God, I. x. 253. Who canton their Devotions in Quadrature with the World.
2. To divide (a part) from, or cut (it) out of a whole; to separate, sever by division. arch. or Obs.
1653. Consid. Dissolv. Crt. Chancery, 63. To canton out a part of his Kingdom to be tryed by Commission.
1681. Whole Duty Nations, 14. A Nation or Kingdom is a part of Mankind canton’d from the whole world.
c. 1698. Locke, Cond. Underst. § 3 (1741), 8. They canton out to themselves a little Goshen in the intellectual World.
1741. Watts, Improv. Mind, ix. Wks. (1813), 63. They canton out to themselves a little Province in the intellectual world.
† 3. intr. (for refl.) To sever or separate oneself, secede, withdraw; fig. to digress. Obs.
1611. Cotgr., Se Cantonner, to canton, or cantonnize, it; to seuer themselues from the rest of their fellowes, or from the bodie of a State, and fortifie, quarter, or erect a new State, apart.
c. 1630. Drumm. of Hawth., Poems, 56/1. Hold those subjects too too wanton, [That] Under an old king dare canton.
a. 1734. North, Lives, II. 92. I have not cantoned much from the places intended express for particularities of this nature.
4. trans. To quarter (soldiers); to provide with quarters.
1700. P. Rycaut, Hist. Turks, III. 384/1. Leaving some of their Horse Cantoned near the City.
1751. Phil. Trans., XLVII. xxviii. 194. The Greys were cantoon’d in the village of Vucht near Boisleduc.
1755. Mem. Capt. P. Drake, II. iii. 141. The small Corps, that were cantooned about that Neighbourhood.
1855. W. Sargent, Braddock’s Exped., 142. An absurd plan for cantoning them in small divisions all over the country.
b. fig. To quarter, or locate in detachments.
1773. G. White, Selborne, xxxviii. 96. I myself have found these birds in little parties in the autumn cantoned all along the Sussex downs. Ibid. (1853), II. xvii. 207. The variegated breed of his son-in-law, Jacob, were cantoned on the other.
a. 1779. H. Walpole, Mem. Geo. II. (1847), III. vi. 157. The whole body of Whigs were cantoned out in attachments to the Dukes of Newcastle and Bedford.
5. intr. (for refl.) To quarter (oneself), take up cantonments or quarters.
1697. Potter, Antiq. Greece (1715), I. iii. 10. His People … canton’d up and down the Country.
1707. Lond. Gaz., No. 4381/1. Our Army hath … received Orders to canton.
1841. Elphinstone, Hist. Ind., II. 279. He … cantoned for the rains near the present site of Calcutta.
6. Her. To furnish (a shield or cross) with a canton or cantons; to furnish the cantons with; to place in a canton. See also quot. 1688.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, I. viii. § 45. 82/2. This is of some Blazoned two Barrs Cantoned, thereby shewing that the higher hath a Canton joined to it.
1727–51. Chambers, Cycl., s.v., A cross argent, cantoned with four scallop-shells.
1864. Boutell, Heraldry Hist. & Pop., xxi. § 10 (ed. 3), 365. The cross of St. George cantoning in the first quarter a sword erect gu.
