Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Chant

Chant , transitive verb

[French chanter, from Latin cantare, intens. of canere to sing. Compare Cant affected speaking, and see Hen.]

1.
To utter with a melodious voice; to sing.
The cheerful birds... do chant sweet music. — Spenser
2.
To celebrate in song.
The poets chant in the theaters. — Bramhall
3.
(Music) To sing or recite after the manner of a chant, or to a tune called a chant.

Chant , intransitive verb

1.
To make melody with the voice; to sing.
Chant to the sound of the viol. — Amos vi. 5
2.
(Music) To sing, as in reciting a chant.
Collocations (1)
To chant horses or To chaunt horses , to sing their praise; to overpraise; to cheat in selling. See Chaunter. — Thackeray

Chant , noun

[French chant, from Latin cantus singing, song, from canere to sing. See Chant, transitive verb]

1.
Song; melody.
2.
(Music) A short and simple melody, divided into two parts by double bars, to which unmetrical psalms, etc., are sung or recited. It is the most ancient form of choral music.
3.
A psalm, etc., arranged for chanting.
4.
Twang; manner of speaking; a canting tone. [Rare]
His strange face, his strange chant. — Macaulay
Collocations (2)
Chant royal , in old French poetry, a poem containing five strophes of eleven lines each, and a concluding stanza. -- each of these six parts ending with a common refrain.
Gregorian chant , See under Gregorian.