fist

nounverbverbnouncommon in dialogue

//fɪst//

A hand with the fingers clenched or curled inward.

noun

1
A hand with the fingers clenched or curled inward.
The boxer's fists rained down on his opponent in the last round.
2
Synonym of manicule.
3
The characteristic signaling rhythm of an individual telegraph or CW operator when sending Morse code.
4
slangA person's characteristic handwriting.
5
A group of men.
6
The talons of a bird of prey.
More light then Culver in the Faulcons fist.
7
informalAn attempt at something.
City look stronger, fitter and more motivated than last season and even at this early stage the gap feels like a sizeable advantage. Yes, it is way too early to make snap judgments about the impact on the title race. It has, however, been long enough to ascertain that Manuel Pellegrini’s team are going to make a much better fist of it this time.
With the rise of cognitive neuroscience, the time may be coming when we can make a reasonable fist of mapping down from an understanding of the functional architecture of the mind to the structural architecture of the brain.

Etymology

From Middle English fist, from Old English fȳst (“fist”), from Proto-West Germanic *fūsti (“fist”), of uncertain origin, but possibly from Proto-Indo-European *pewǵ- (“to punch; to prick, stab”). Cognates Cognate with Yola fest, hist (“fist”), Saterland Frisian Fäste, Fääste (“fist”), West Frisian fûst (“fist”), Central Franconian Fuus (“fist”), Cimbrian bòista, vòista (“fist”), Dutch vuist (“fist”), German Faust (“fist”), Low German Fuust (“fist”), Luxembourgish Fauscht (“fist”), Vilamovian faojst, faust (“fist”), Yiddish פֿויסט (foyst, “fist”); also Irish fuaigh (“sew, stitch”), Latin pugnus (“fist”), Ancient Greek πυγμή (pugmḗ, “fist”), πύκτης (púktēs, “boxer, pugilist”), Lithuanian kumštis (“fist”), Bulgarian пестник (pestnik, “fist; punch”), Czech pěst (“fist”), Polish pięść (“fist”), Russian пясть (pjastʹ, “metacarpus”), Serbo-Croatian пе̏ст, pȅst, пѐсница, pèsnica (“fist”), Slovak päsť (“fist”), Slovene pest (“fist”). More at five.

verb

1
To strike with the fist.
...may not score a point with his open hand(s), but may score a point by fisting the ball.
2
To close (the hand) into a fist.
He noticed Ada's trick of hiding her fingernails by fisting her hand or stretching it with the palm turned upward when helping herself to a biscuit.
3
To grip with a fist.
I am an officer; but, how I wish I could fist a bit of old-fashioned beef in the fore-castle, as I used to when I was before the mast.
4
slangTo fist-fuck.
5
To stomp, to utterly defeat

verb

1
To break wind.

Etymology

From Middle English fisten, fiesten, from Old English *fistan ("to break wind gently"; supported by Old English fisting (“breaking wind”)), from Proto-Germanic *fistaz (“breaking wind, fart”), from Proto-Germanic *fīsaną (“to break or discharge wind, fart”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peys- (“to blow, breathe”). Cognate with Dutch veest (“a fart”), Low German fīsten (“to break wind”), German Fist (“a quiet wind”), Fisten (“breaking wind”), Swedish fisa (“to fart”), Latin spīrō (“breathe, blow”).

noun

1
The act of breaking wind; fise.
2
A puffball.

Forms

plural: fists
past tense: fisted
past participle: fisted
present participle: fisting
third person singular: fists

fishy · Of, from, or similar to fish.fisk · To rebut an argument line by line, especially on the Internet.Fisk · A surname.

fist · A hand with the fingers clenched or curled inward.

fit · Suitable; proper fitch · A polecat, such as the European polecat (Mustela putorius),…Fitch · A surname from Old French.

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