Canton /(?)/

1. A song or canto [Obs.]

   Write loyal cantons of contemned love.

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

   That little canton of land called the “English pale”

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

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. 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. (Her.)

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

imp. & p. p. Cantoned; p. pr. & vb. n. Cantoning

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.

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