canto

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can·to

(kăn′tō)

n. pl. can·tos

One of the principal divisions of a long poem.

[Italian, from Latin cantus, song; see canticle.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

canto

(ˈkæntəʊ)

n, pl -tos

1. (Classical Music) music another word for cantus²

2. (Poetry) a main division of a long poem

[C16: from Italian: song, from Latin cantus, from canere to sing]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

can•to

(ˈkæn toʊ)

n., pl. -tos.

one of the main or larger divisions of a long poem.

[1580–90; < Italian < Latin cantus singing, song]

canto

one of the main (larger) divisions in a long poem.

canto

[ˈkæntəʊ] N → canto m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

canto

n (Liter) → Canto m, → Gesang m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

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References in classic literature ?

Cleric went through canto after canto of the `Commedia,' repeating the discourse between Dante and his `sweet teacher,' while his cigarette burned itself out unheeded between his long fingers.

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For a single illustration, the description of the House of Alma in Book II, Canto Nine, is a tediously literal medieval allegory of the Soul and Body; and occasional realistic details here and there in the poem at large are merely repellent to more modern taste.

That the reader may never be in danger of forgetting his moral aim, Spenser fills the poem with moral observations, frequently setting them as guides at the beginning of the cantos.

Each Book consists of twelve cantos (of from forty to ninety stanzas each) and oftentimes Spenser has difficulty in filling out the scheme.

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If Paul memorized one canto of "Marmion," Lloyd memorized two cantos, Paul came back with three, and Lloyd again with four, till each knew the whole poem by heart.

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The cows swung placidly down the lane, and Anne followed them dreamily, repeating aloud the battle canto from MARMION--which had also been part of their English course the preceding winter and which Miss Stacy had made them learn off by heart--and exulting in its rushing lines and the clash of spears in its imagery.

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At first sight such a work seems to be a miscellany of myths, technical advice, moral precepts, and folklore maxims without any unifying principle; and critics have readily taken the view that the whole is a canto of fragments or short poems worked up by a redactor.

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"You hear -- Major Bartolomeo Cavalcanti -- a man who ranks amongst the most ancient nobility of Italy, whose name Dante has celebrated in the tenth canto of `The Inferno,' you remember it, do you not?

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I will read you the first canto. It has four hundred lines, and lasts a minute."

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The Sinfonietta Bel Canto's Summer Concert Series will continue with "POPera!" at 7:30 p.m.

Mayslake concert to feature great American jazz standards

David Cox, Head of Regulatory Affairs for Cable & Wireless Communications ("C&W"), is the new Chairman of CANTO, one of the Caribbean organizations in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) / Telecommunications industry, the company said.

Noun	1.	canto - the highest part (usually the melody) in a piece of choral music voice part - a part written for a singer
	2.	canto - a major division of a long poem poem, verse form - a composition written in metrical feet forming rhythmical lines section, subdivision - a self-contained part of a larger composition (written or musical); "he always turns first to the business section"; "the history of this work is discussed in the next section"