This week’s theme
Places that have given us multiple toponyms

This week’s words
coventrate
Roman holiday
canter
Trojan
Kentish fire

---

A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(KAN-tuhr)

MEANING:

verb tr./intr.:	1. To move at an easy pace.
	2. To ride a horse at a canter.
noun:	1. An easy pace.
	2. A three-beat gait of a horse.

ETYMOLOGY:

After Canterbury, a city in England, the home of Thomas Becket’s shrine, toward which medieval pilgrims supposedly rode at an easy pace. Earliest documented use: 1706. Also see, Canterbury tale.

USAGE:

“The offshore industry needed Marintek’s blessing before any new structure could be built. Lund spotted him, broke off her conversation and headed over. It meant walking all the way round the pool, which she did at her usual canter.”
Frank Schatzing; The Swarm; HarperCollins; 2009.

See more usage examples of canter in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: