Meaning

noun stock phrases that have become nonsense through endless repetition

noun a slope in the turn of a road or track; the outside is higher than the inside in order to reduce the effects of centrifugal force

noun a characteristic language of a particular group (as among thieves)

originUnknown, but compare Provençal cantel (“corner, piece”) or Old Northern French cantel (“piece broken off”). The verb is attested from the 15th century, and the noun from the 16th. See cantle, from which cant is possibly back-formed as if it contained the suffix -le.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0