gest

See also: gëṣṭ and Gest

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒɛst/
• Homophone: jest
• Rhymes: -ɛst

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Middle French geste. Doublet of jest.

Noun

gest (countable and uncountable, plural gests)

1. (archaic) A story or adventure; a verse or prose romance.
   • 1577, Raphaell Holinshed, The Firste Volume of the Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande […], volume I, London: […] [Henry Bynneman] for Iohn Harrison, →OCLC:

     The tales of Robin Hood, or the gests written by Ariost the Italian in his booke intituled Orlando furioso.

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     Who faire them quites, as him beseemed best,
     And goodly gan discourse of many a noble gest.

2. (archaic) An action represented in sports, plays, or on the stage; show; ceremony.
   • a. 1639, Joseph Mede, a sermon

     And surely no Ceremonies of dedication , no not of Solomons Temple it self , are comparable to those sacred gests , whereby this place was sanctified

3. (archaic) Bearing; deportment.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 24:

     through his heroic grace and honorable gest

4. (obsolete) A gesture or action.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     They did obeysaunce, as beseemed right, / And then againe returned to their restes: / The Porter eke to her did lout with humble gestes.

   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 36, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

     more Kings and Princes have written his gestes and actions, than any other historians, of what quality soever, have registred the gests, or collected the actions of any other King or Prince that ever was […].

Derived terms

• gested
• gestic

Translations

gesture

• French: geste (fr) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: please add this translation if you can

  Latin: gesta (sh) f

verse romance

• French: geste (fr) f

Etymology 2

A variant of gist (“resting-place”).

Noun

gest (plural gests)

1. (obsolete) Alternative form of gist (“a stop for lodging or rest in a journey, or the place where this happens; a rest”).
   • c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:

     […] Yet of your Royall presence, Ile aduenture / The borrow of a Weeke. When at Bohemia / You take my Lord, Ile giue him my Commission, / To let him there a Moneth, behind the Gest / Prefix'd for's parting: yet (good-deed) Leontes, / I loue thee not a Iarre o'th' Clock, behind / What Lady she her Lord. You'le stay?

Derived terms

• gests (“roll reciting the several stages of a royal progress”)

Anagrams

• Gets, gets, steg, tegs

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin gestus. First attested in the 14th century.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈʒest]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈd͡ʒest]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

Noun

gest m (plural gests or gestos)

1. gesture

Related terms

• gesticular

Further reading

• “gest”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “gest” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “gest” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Icelandic

Etymology 1

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

gest

1. indefinite accusative singular of gestur

Etymology 2

Verb

gest

1. singular present indicative of getast
2. second-person imperative of getast

Middle Dutch

Alternative forms

• gist

Etymology

From Old Dutch *gest, *gist, from Proto-West Germanic *jestu.

Noun

gest m or f

1. yeast

Inflection

Strong masculine noun

	singular	plural
nominative	gest	geste
accusative	gest	geste
genitive	gests	geste
dative	geste	gesten

Strong feminine noun

	singular	plural
nominative	gest	geste
accusative	gest	geste
genitive	gest, geste	geste
dative	gest, geste	gesten

Alternative forms

• gist

Descendants

• Dutch: gist
  • Afrikaans: gis
• Limburgish: ges

Further reading

• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929), “gest (II)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page II

Middle English

Etymology 1

From a conflation of Old Norse gestr and Old English ġiest; both from Proto-Germanic *gastiz, from Proto-Germanic *gʰóstis. Doublet of host.

Alternative forms

• geste, gist, geast, gyst

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡɛst/, /ɡɛːst/, /ɡist/
• Rhymes: -ɛst

Noun

gest (plural gestes)

2. A guest, visitor; somebody staying at another's residence.
3. A customer of a hostel or inn; one that pays for accommodation.
4. An unknown person; a foreigner or outsider.
5. A (often threatening) male individual; a ominous person.
6. (figurative, rare) A male lover of a woman; a man in an unofficial intimate relationship with a woman.

Derived terms

• gesten
• gestenen
• gestyng

Descendants

• English: guest
• Scots: guest

References

• “gest, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 26 April 2018.

Etymology 2

Noun

gest

1. alternative form of geste (“tale”)
   • late 14th century, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Man of Law's Tale, The Canterbury Tales, line 1126-1127:

     In olde Romayn gestes may men finde
     Maurices lyf; I bere it noght in minde.

     In the old Roman histories may men find
     Maurice's life; I bear it not in mind.

   • late 14th century, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Squire's Tale, The Canterbury Tales, line 209-211:

     [...] Or elles it was the Grekes hors Synon,
     That broghte Troye to destruccion,
     As men may in thise olde gestes rede, [...]

     [...] Or else it was Sinon the Greek's horse,
     That brought Troy to destruction,
     As men in these old romances read, [...]

Etymology 3

Noun

gest

1. alternative form of geste (“tribe”)

Etymology 4

Verb

gest

1. alternative form of gesten (“to host a guest”)

Etymology 5

Verb

gest

1. alternative form of gesten (“to read poetry”)

Etymology 6

Noun

gest

1. alternative form of yest (“beer foam”)

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Latin gestus, via French geste.

Noun

gest m (definite singular gesten, indefinite plural gester, definite plural gestene)

1. a gesture

References

• “gest” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Latin gestus, via French geste.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡɛst/

Noun

gest m (definite singular gesten, indefinite plural gestar, definite plural gestane)

1. a gesture

References

• “gest” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old Frisian

Etymology

Possibly borrowed from Old Saxon gēst or Old High German geist.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡeːst/, [ˈɡɛːst]

Noun

gēst m

1. alternative form of gāst

References

• Bremmer, Rolf H. (2009), An Introduction to Old Frisian: History, Grammar, Reader, Glossary, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 28

Old Norse

Noun

gest

1. accusative/dative singular of gestr

Old Saxon

Alternative forms

• geist

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *gaist.

Noun

gēst m

1. A soul, spirit, breath

Declension

gēst (masculine a-stem)

	singular	plural
nominative	gēst	gēstos
accusative	gēst	gēstos
genitive	gēstes	gēstō
dative	gēste	gēstum
instrumental	—	—

Descendants

• Middle Low German: gêst, geist
  • Low German: Geist
    • German Low German: Geest, Geist
  • Plautdietsch: Jeist

Polish

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin gestus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɛst/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛst
• Syllabification: gest

Noun

gest m inan

1. gesture (motion of the limbs or body)
2. gesture (act or remark)

Declension

Declension of gest

	singular	plural
nominative	gest	gesty
genitive	gestu	gestów
dative	gestowi	gestom
accusative	gest	gesty
instrumental	gestem	gestami
locative	geście	gestach
vocative	geście	gesty

Further reading

• gest in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• gest in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French geste.

Noun

gest n (plural gesturi)

1. gesture

Swedish

Etymology

From Latin gestus (“having been carried”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɧɛst/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

gest c

1. a gesture; a motion of the hands

   gäster med gester

   guests with gestures (title of a Swedish TV show)

2. a gesture; a symbolic action, a signal

Declension

Declension of gest

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	gest	gests
	definite	gesten	gestens
plural	indefinite	gester	gesters
	definite	gesterna	gesternas

Related terms

• gestik
• gestikulation
• gestikulera
• gestikulering
• gestisk
• gestuell

References

• gest in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• gest in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• gest in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

Anagrams

• gets, segt, steg, tegs

Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡɛst/

Verb

gest

1. soft mutation of cest

Mutation

Mutated forms of cest

radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
cest	gest	nghest	chest

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.