canter

UK/ˈkæn.tə/US/ˈkæn.tɚ/

verbB2+Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #12,621 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: cantering, cantered, canters

To canter is to ride at a gentle pace between trot and gallop. Canter across the field, break into a canter, an easy canter.

It is a three-beat gait, which is what makes it smooth to sit compared with the two-beat trot. The word is short for Canterbury pace, from the easy pace at which medieval pilgrims were said to ride to the shrine there.

Definitions of canter

1verbcanterTo ride at a gentle pace between trot and gallop.B2+
“The horses cantered across the field towards the gate.”

canter is a pace.

Where it comes from

Short for Canterbury pace, from the supposed easy riding pace of pilgrims to Canterbury.

Short for Canterbury pace, from the supposed easy pace of medieval pilgrims to Canterbury.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire

Practise this word

canter in the wild

The canter and gallop are variations on the fastest gait that can be performed by a horse or other equine.
Canter and gallop
Canter time, canter timing or canter rhythm is a two-beat regular rhythmic pattern of a musical instrument or in dance steps within 34 time music.
Canter rhythm
The term is borrowed from the canter horse gait, which sounds three hoof beats followed by a pause, i.e., 3 accents in 44 time.
Canter rhythm
Lead refers to which set of legs, left or right, leads or advances forward to a greater extent when a quadruped animal is cantering, galloping, or leaping.
Lead (leg)
A lead change refers to an animal, usually a horse, moving in a canter or gallop, changing from one lead to the other.
Lead (leg)

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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