CANCEL • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Cancel

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/kˈænsəl/ Listen

verb

Cancel v. i. (past & past part. canceled or cancelled; pres. part. canceling or cancelling)

1.

To inclose or surround, as with a railing, or with latticework. (Obs.) "A little obscure place canceled in with iron work is the pillar or stump at which... our Savior was scourged."

2.

To shut out, as with a railing or with latticework; to exclude. (Obs.) "Canceled from heaven."

3.

To cross and deface, as the lines of a writing, or as a word or figure; to mark out by a cross line; to blot out or obliterate. "A deed may be avoided by delivering it up to be cancelled; that is, to have lines drawn over it in the form of latticework or cancelli; though the phrase is now used figuratively for any manner of obliterating or defacing it."

4.

To annul or destroy; to revoke or recall. "The indentures were canceled." "He was unwilling to cancel the interest created through former secret services, by being refractory on this occasion."

5.

(Print.) To suppress or omit; to strike out, as matter in type.

Canceled figures (Print), figures cast with a line across the face., as for use in arithmetics.

Synonyms: To blot out; obliterate; deface; erase; efface; expunge; annul; abolish; revoke; abrogate; repeal; destroy; do away; set aside. See Abolish.

noun

Cancel n.

1.

An inclosure; a boundary; a limit. (Obs.) "A prison is but a retirement, and opportunity of serious thoughts, to a person whose spirit... desires no enlargement beyond the cancels of the body."

2.

(Print)

(a)

The suppression or striking out of matter in type, or of a printed page or pages.

(b)

The part thus suppressed.

See images of 'Cancel'

Etymology of 'Cancel'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Cancel" Quotes from Famous Books

... be absolutely useless to ask him to smooth over his lecture and cut out anything which sounds radical. Also they have decided that it would be a shock to the university and the public to have you appear upon the platform in any way, shape or manner. They are going to ask you to cancel your engagement to introduce London. In this I think they are unwise, but as they are determined it must be so. I advise you to agree to whatever arrangement they suggest. This done, they will 'take the chances' that London will express Socialistic ideas. Now I fear there will be the devil to pay ...

— From the Bottom Up - The Life Story of Alexander Irvine • Alexander Irvine

... minor arrangements bearing upon her state and comfort; the duke perpetually observing, 'But I leave it all to you, Beamish,' when he had laid down precise instructions in these respects, even to the specification of the shopkeepers, the confectioner and the apothecary, who were to balance or cancel one another in the opposite nature of their supplies, and the haberdasher and the jeweller, with whom she was to make her purchases. For the duke had a recollection of giddy shops, and of giddy shopmen too; and it was by serving as one for a day that a certain ...

— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith

... done so. Upon returning to England Mr. Scobell informed Henson that should he ever desire to return to England, he would find in the hands of Amos Lawrence, of Boston, a draft to cover his expenses. Henson did return in 1851 and raised sufficient money to cancel the entire indebtedness of the institution. He was compelled to return to Canada soon after his arrival, however, on account of the fatal illness of his wife, who ...

— The Journal of Negro History, Volume 3, 1918 • Various

... would be an ideal assistant for you. Your work is simple. Before you leave I will give you a sealed envelope containing a list of all our Canadian agents. You will also find two code sentences, one of which means 'Commence operations,' and the other, 'Cancel ...

— The Green Rust • Edgar Wallace

... if they are of a description to need assistance to support themselves, can always be gained over with the greatest ease, and they will be tightly held to serve the prince with fidelity, inasmuch as they know it to be very necessary for them to cancel by deeds the bad impression which he had formed of them; and thus the prince always extracts more profit from them than from those who, serving him in too much security, may neglect his affairs. And since the matter demands ...

— The Prince • Niccolo Machiavelli

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