canter

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈkæn.tə/ (UK); /ˈkæn.tɚ/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is short for obsolete Canterbury (verb), “to ride at an easy gallop”,^[2][3][4][5] from phrases such as Canterbury pace and Canterbury gallop,^[2][3][4] the easy pace of pilgrims riding to the shrine of Thomas à Becket at Canterbury.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a verb, of a horse: to move at a moderate, easy gallop.^[4][7]

Semantic evolution

The phrase was cut down in stages: Canterbury alone meant “a canter” by 1631 and “to canter” by 1673, and the shortened verb canter appears in 1706, with the noun formed from it in 1755.^[2][3] In racing, to win in a canter meant to win so easily that galloping was needless, and so to win easily.^[7]

Timeline

• 1631 – noun Canterbury, a canter.^[2][3]
• before 1636 – Canterbury pace.^[2]
• 1673 – verb Canterbury.^[2][3][4]
• 1706 – verb canter.^{[2][3][4][5][7]}
• 1755 – noun canter.^{[2][3][4][5][7]}
• 1853 – to win in a canter.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A smooth three-beat gait of a horse, slower than a gallop and faster than a trot.
2. A ride at this gait.

Verb

1. To move at a canter.
2. To ride a horse at a canter.
3. To make (a horse) go at a canter.

Related words

• gallop
• trot

References

1. [1] Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. [1] [2] [3] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. [1] Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press