canton. Pier or other projection at an angle of a building, such as antae, columns, pilasters, or rusticated quoins. Any work of architecture with this condition is said to be cantoned, from the French cantonné. A cantoned pier (pilier cantonné) is found in Gothic architecture, otherwise a compound pier with a massive core and four projecting piers or shafts connecting to the transverse vaults over nave and aisle and the nave-arcade.

can·ton / ˈkantn; ˈkanˌtän/ • n. 1. a subdivision of a country established for political or administrative purposes. ∎  a state of the Swiss Confederation. 2. Heraldry a square charge smaller than a quarter and positioned in the upper (usually dexter) corner of a shield. DERIVATIVES: can·ton·al / kanˈtänl; ˈkantnl/ adj.

CANTON

CANTON , port in southern China. The first mention of Jews in the city dates back to 878–79, when 120,000 Mohammedans, Jews, Christians, and Parsees are said to have been massacred during a rebellion. (As for the Jews this is not confirmed, since the Chinese record did not mention Jews, but a group called Zhuhu or Woto, and it has been speculated they were Jews). The figure may be correct, as it was based on the Chinese registers for the head tax of foreigners. This event interrupted the flourishing Arab and other international trade under the T'ang dynasty. There are no statistical details regarding the various ethnic groups. The existence of a synagogue in Canton was reported at a later date, but the facts cannot be confirmed from available literary sources.

bibliography:

L. Wieger, Textes Historiques… de la Chine depuis l'origine, jusqu'en 1912, 2 (1923²), 1507; M. Broomhall, Islam in China (1910, repr. 1960), 31, 50.

[Rudolf Loewenthal]

canton †corner; (her.) ordinary of a shield XVI; subdivision of a country XVII. — (O)F. — Pr. :- Rom. *canto, -ōn-, f. L. cantus CANT 1.
So canton vb. quarter (in various senses). XVI. cantonment quarters. XVIII.

canton Unit of government and administration that make up the Swiss Confederation (Switzerland). Each canton sends two members to the Council of State, which (with the National Council) forms the country's federal parliament.