cestus

English

A depiction of a cestus (fighting glove)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɛstəs/

Etymology 1

From Latin caestus.

Noun

cestus (plural cestuses or cestus or cesti)

1. A leather fighting glove, frequently weighted with metal.
   • 1994 August, Carl Brown, “Nunchucks and Throwing Stars in Your State? A State-byState Survey of Martial Arts Weapons Laws”, in Black Belt, page 81:

     It is against Massachusetts law to carry on your person or in a vehicle any stiletto, dagger, ballistic knife, dirk knife, doubl-edged knife, switchblade knife, slungshot, blowgun, blackjack, metallic knuckles, nunchaku (also referred to as “klackers” or “kung fu sticks” in Massachusetts law), shuriken or similar pointed star-like objects intended to injure a person when thrown, armband with metallic spikes, points or studs, cestus weighted with metal or other substance and worn on the hand, manriki gusari or similar length of chain with weighted ends, or billy club.

   • 2011, James Edward Raggi, IV, Lamentations of the Flame Princess: Weird Fantasy Role-Playing (Grindhouse Edition): Rules Book, →ISBN, page 25:

     'Cestus': This includes all sorts of fist wrappings and brass knuckle weapon types.

Etymology 2

Juno receiving the Cestus from Venus

From Latin cestus.

Noun

cestus (plural cesti)

1. (obsolete) A girdle, especially that of Aphrodite (or Venus) which gave the wearer the power to excite love.
   • 1826, Joanna Baillie, The Martyr, act 2:

     With pasture slopes, and flocks just visible;
     Then, further still, soft wavy wastes of forest,
     
     In all the varied tints of sylvan verdure,
     
     Descending to the plain; then, wide and boundless,
     
     The plain itself, with towns and cultured tracts,
     
     And its fair river gleaming in the light,
     
     With all its sweepy windings, seen and lost,
     
     And seen again, till through the pale grey tint
     
     Of distant space, it seem'd a loosen'd cestus
     
     From virgin's tunic blown; and still beyond,
     
     The earth's extended vastness from the sight
     
     Wore like the boundless ocean.

References

• cestus on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• scutes

Latin

Etymology 1

From Ancient Greek κεστός (kestós, “stitched, embroidered”).

Noun

cestus m (genitive cestī); second declension

1. a girdle, tie, band or strap worn around the upper body, directly under the breast
2. the girdle of Aphrodite or Venus

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	cestus	cestī
Genitive	cestī	cestōrum
Dative	cestō	cestīs
Accusative	cestum	cestōs
Ablative	cestō	cestīs
Vocative	ceste	cestī

Descendants

• → English: cestus

Etymology 2

Variant of caestus, from caedō (“I cut in pieces”)

Noun

cestus m (genitive cestūs); fourth declension

1. boxing glove; a strip of leather, weighted with iron or lead, tied to a boxer's hands

Declension

Fourth-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	cestus	cestūs
Genitive	cestūs	cestuum
Dative	cestuī	cestibus
Accusative	cestum	cestūs
Ablative	cestū	cestibus
Vocative	cestus	cestūs

References

• “cestus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• cestus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• cestus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “cestus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “cestus”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin