gist

See also: Gist, ģist, gişt, and gışt

English

Etymology

From Old French gist, third person singular indicative of the verb gesir (“to lie down”), from Latin iaceō. From such Law French phrases as cest action gist, "this action lies." Compare French gésir (conjugated form gît) or gîte (“lodging”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d͡ʒɪst/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪst

Noun

gist (plural gists)

1. The most essential part; the main idea or substance (of a longer or more complicated matter); the crux of a matter; the pith.
   • 1948, Carl Sandburg, Remembrance Rock, page 103:

     "Should they live and build their church in the American wilderness, their worst dangers would rise in and among themselves rather than outside. That was the gist of the lesson from their pastor and "wellwiller" John Robinson."

   • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XIX, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:

     He was handing her something in an envelope, and she was saying “Oh, Jeeves, you've saved a human life,” and he was saying “Not at all, miss.” The gist, of course, escaped me, but I had no leisure to probe into gists.

   • 1996, Nicky Silver, Etiquette and Vitriol, Theatre Communications Group, published 1996, page 10:

     I was really just vomiting images like spoiled sushi (that may be an ill-considered metaphor, but you get my gist).

   • 2003, Fyodor Dostoevsky, David McDuff, transl., Crime and Punishment, Penguin, page 183:

     I don't remember his exact words, but the gist of it was that he wanted it all for nothing, as quickly as possible, without any effort.

2. (law, dated) The essential ground for action in a suit, without which there is no cause of action.
3. (obsolete) Resting place (especially of animals), lodging.
   • 1601, Philemon Holland's translation of Pliny's Natural History, 1st ed., book X, chapter XXIII “Of Swallowes, Ousles, or Merles, Thrushes, Stares or Sterlings, Turtles, and Stockdoves.”, p. 282:

     These Quailes have their set gists, to wit, ordinarie resting and baiting places. [These quails have their set gists, to wit, ordinary resting and baiting places.]

Synonyms

• (most essential part): crux, quintessence; See also Thesaurus:gist
• (essential ground for action): gravamen
• (resting place): lair

Translations

the most essential part

• Bulgarian: същина́ (bg) f (sǎštiná), съ́щност (bg) f (sǎ́štnost)
• Catalan: essència (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 要旨 (zh) (yàozhǐ), 大要 (zh) (dàyào), 要點／要点 (zh) (yàodiǎn)

• Czech: podstata (cs) f
• Danish: essens c kvintessens c
• Dutch: essentie (nl), kerngedachte, grote lijnen pl
• Finnish: ydin (fi), pääsisältö, olennainen (fi)
• French: essentiel (fr) m
• Galician: cerna (gl), cerne (gl)
• Georgian: არსი (arsi), დედააზრი (dedaazri), დედაარსი (dedaarsi)
• German: Hauptinhalt m, Hauptpunkt m, Kern (de) m, Kernaussage f, Wesentliche n, Quintessenz (de) f
• Greek: ουσία (el) f (ousía), κεντρική ιδέα f (kentrikí idéa)
• Hebrew: עיקר‎ (he) m (ikar)
• Hungarian: lényeg (hu)
• Icelandic: aðalatriði (is) n, kjarni (is) m
• Italian: essenza (it) f, sostanza (it), succo (it) m
• Japanese: 要旨 (ja) (ようし, yōshi), 要点 (ja) (ようてん, yōten)
• Korean: 핵심 (ko) (haeksim)
• Maori: matū, ngako
• Polish: baza f
• Portuguese: essência (pt) f, âmago (pt) m, essencial (pt)
• Russian: су́щность (ru) f (súščnostʹ), суть (ru) f (sutʹ), смысл (ru) m (smysl)
• Scottish Gaelic: brìgh f
• Spanish: esencia (es)
• Swedish: kontenta (sv) c
• Turkish: ana fikir (tr), öz (tr), özet (tr)
• Vietnamese: mấu chốt (vi)

resting place

• Finnish: sija (fi)
• French: gîte (fr) m

Verb

gist (third-person singular simple present gists, present participle gisting, simple past and past participle gisted)

1. To summarize, to extract and present the most important parts of.
   • 1873, Journal of Proceedings and Addresses of the National Educational Association, session of the year 1872, at Boston, Massachusetts, page 201:

     There are two general ways of getting information, and these two general ways may be summed up in this: take one branch of study and its principles are all gisted, they have been gisted by the accumulated thought of years gone by. These gisted thoughts are axioms, or received principles, […]

Translations

extract the most important

• Dutch: puren (nl), uitpuren (nl)

References

• gist in An American Dictionary of the English Language, by Noah Webster, 1828.
• “gist” in Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed, 1856.
• “gist”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• GTis, ISTG, gits, stig, tigs

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɣɪst/
• Hyphenation: gist
• Rhymes: -ɪst

Etymology 1

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

Noun

gist f (plural gisten)

1. yeast

Derived terms

• biergist
• gisten
• gistzwam

Descendants

• Afrikaans: gis

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

gist

1. first-, second- and third-person singular present indicative of gisten
2. imperative of gisten

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

gist

1. second- and third-person singular present indicative of gissen
2. (archaic) plural imperative of gissen

Middle English

Noun

gist

1. Alternative form of gest

Old French

Verb

gist

1. third-person singular present indicative of gesir

Romansch

Etymology

From Latin iūstus, jūstus.

Adjective

gist m (feminine singular gista, masculine plural gists, feminine plural gistas)

1. right

Welsh

Pronunciation

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /ɡiːsd/, [ɡiːst]
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /ɡɪsd/, [ɡɪst]

Noun

gist

1. Soft mutation of cist.

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
cist	gist	nghist	chist
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Yola

Alternative forms

• jist, jeist

Etymology

From Middle English juste, from Old French juste.

Adverb

gist

1. just, just now

References

• Jacob Poole (1867), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, page 41