▪ I. fist, n.1
(fɪst)
Forms: 1 f{yacu}st, (fæst), 2–6 fest(e, (3 south. veste), 3–5 fust(e, (3 south. vuste), 4–5 feest, 4–6 fyst(e, 4, 6–7 fiste, 5– fist.
[OE. f{yacu}st str. fem. corresponds to OFris. fêst, MLG. fûst (Du. vuist), OHG. fûst (MHG. vûst, mod.Ger. faust):—WGer. *fûsti.
By some scholars this is referred to an OTeut. form *fûhsti-z, *funhsti-z:—pre-Teut. *pṇqstis (whence OSl. pęstĭ of same meaning), f. ablaut-variant of *penqe five.]
1. The hand clenched or closed tightly, with the fingers doubled into the palm: a. gen., esp. for the purpose of striking.
| a 900 Lorica Gloss. 49 in O.E. Texts (1885) 173 Pugnas, fyste. c 1000 ælfric Exod. xxi. 18 Gif men cidaþ & hira oþer hys nextan mid..fyste sticþ. c 1050 Monastic Sign-language in Techmer's Internat. Zeitschr. f. alig. Sprgsch. II. 124 Rær up þine fæste. c 1160 Hatton Gosp. Mark xiv. 65 Sume..mid festen hine beaten. c 1205 Lay. 22785, & seodden þa uustes uusden to sweoren. a 1225 Ancr. R. 106 He þolede..þet te Giws dutten..his deorewurde muð mid hore dreori fustes. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 105 Þe fyngris of his hand ben folden into his fist. 1490 Caxton Eneydos xxvii. 107 Smytynge her brestes wyth her handes and fustes. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W.) 253 b, They layde on hym with theyr fystes and other wepens. 1588 Marprel Epist. (Arb.) 4 You will shortly..haue twenty fistes about your eares. 1626 J. Pory in Ellis Orig. Lett. i. 331 III. 239 The Queen..brake the glasse windowes with her fiste. 1650 Bulwer Anthropomet. 175 He only fights with a closed fist. 1740 Somerville Hobbinol ii. 294 His Iron Fist descending crush'd his Skull. 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop v, Testifying..a vehement desire to shake her matronly fist at her son-in-law. 1865 Kingsley Herew. II. ii. 36 Which we inherited by right of fist. |
b. for clasping or holding something within. Hence also, grasp, grip, clutches. Now chiefly jocular.
Cf. F. poing, still the ordinary word in this sense. In Eng. hand is now commonly used.
| 1297 R. Glouc. (1724) 345 Boþe hys honden he nom Vol of þe poudre & of þe erþe..And closedes to gader & hys fustes boþe adrou. c 1320 R. Brunne Medit. 212 He þat þou seest yn þe prestes fest. a 1400 Prymer (1891) 18 He..hooldith the world in his feest. c 1400 Destr. Troy 10995 Philmen the fre kyng, þat he in fyst hade. 1483 Caxton G. de la Tour E vij, She with her fyst tooke hym fast by the mantell. c 1500 Melusine xxxviii. 302 The geaunt, that held his syþe in his fyst. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 2 He that a little before perswaded himselfe to have helde all England in his fist, now [etc.]. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. vii. 34 More light then Culver in the Faulcons fist. 1676 Hobbes Iliad (1677) 244 Lycon..broke his sword: one part staid in his fist; The other flew. 1727–38 Gay Fables ii. ix. 10, I know, that in a modern fist, Bribes in full energy subsist. 1807–8 Syd. Smith Plymley's Lett. Wks. 1859 II. 139/2 No eel in the well-sanded fist of a cook-maid..ever twisted..as [etc.]. 1833 Mrs. Browning Prometh. Bound Poems (1850) I. 182 To shatter in Poseidon's fist The trident-spear. 1864 Sir F. Palgrave Norm. & Eng. III. 19 The leash in his fist. |
c. In various phrases: to grease the fist or (one) in the fist: to bribe, pay well; so, † to mollify the fist. to make a (good, poor, etc.) fist: colloq. (orig. U.S. and dial.) to make a (good, etc.) attempt at or of something. Also, hand over fist, hand to fist: see hand.
| 1598 Bp. Hall Sat. iv. v. 2 That some fat bribe might grease him in the fist. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 98 Till a right understanding be created..which commonly follows when the Fist is mollified. 1700 S. L. tr. Fryke's Voy. E. Ind. 111, I had now and then greased the Chief Surgeons Fist. 1833 A. Greene Dod. Duckworth ii. 8 You hadn't ought to tax any thing..seeing you've made such a fist of it. 1838 C. Gilman Recoll. Southern Matron v. 46 He reckoned he should make a better fist at farming than edicating. 1841 W. G. Simms Kinsmen II. 24 (Th.), You made a poor fist of this business. 1869 A. C. Gibson Folk-sp. Cumb. 177 Thoo hes mead a fist on't. 1876 Hardy Ethelberta xlvi, 'Tis a poor fist I can make at hearing anything. 1880 Howells Undisc. Country v. 87 Mrs. Burton is really making a very pretty fist at a salon. 1920 Galsworthy In Chancery iii, He made a poor fist of sleeping. 1950 E. A. McCourt Home is Stranger (1951) ii. 31 He doesn't make much of a fist at farming. 1965 Listener 2 Dec. 934/2 You could make a much better fist of it than the experts. |
d. in Falconry, with reference to carrying hawks.
| 1482 Monk of Evesham xxxiii. (Arb.) 75 Sothely he bare there on hys fyste a lytyll byrdde lyke a sparhauke. 1486 Bk. St. Albans D j b, When ye haue yowre hawke on yowre fyst. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 214 They [falcones] wyll check oft, but neuer come to the fist. 1828 J. S. Sebright Observ. Hawking 47 The goshawk is termed a hawk of the fist, because it is from thence, and not from the air, that he flies at his game. 1865 Kingsley Herew. xv, He will have his hawks to sit on his fist. |
e. Used occasionally for: † (a) A blow with the fist (obs.); (b) the art of using the fists, boxing.
| 1767 H. Brooke Fool of Qual. I. iii. 74 Harry gave him such a sudden fist in the temple as drove him staggering backward. Ibid. I. vi. 206 [He] gave him such a sudden fist in the mouth. a 1839 Praed Poems (1864) II. 13 Skilful in fencing and in fist. |
2. a. The hand, not necessarily clenched or closed. Obs. exc. in jocular use.
| a 1300 Fragm. Pop. Sc. (Wright) 322 Thelbowes to the schare, the fustes to the chynne. c 1314 Guy Warw. (A.) 4059 Mani he smot of fot & fest. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xx. 124 The fader is þenne as þe fust with fynger and with paume. a 1400–50 Alexander 4674 With ilka fingire on ȝoure fist. 1583 Stanyhurst Aeneis i. (Arb.) 28 This fist shal sacrifice great flocks on thy sacred altars. 1586 J. Hooker Girald. Irel. in Holinshed II. 24/2 She..did wring hir fists, and cried out with a lowd voice. 1628 Ford Lover's Mel. ii. i, Humbly on my knees I kiss your gracious hand. I have a fist for thee too, stripling. 1650 Bulwer Anthropomet. ii. 113 The people of Numidia eat out of their Fist. 1708 Motteux Rabelais iv. v. (1737) 20 Panurge and his Antagonist shak'd Fists. 1719 D'Urfey Pills (1872) III. 105 Each Lad took his Lass by the Fist. Mod. colloq. Give us your fist, old fellow: i.e. shake hands. |
b. Print. slang. An index mark ☛.
| 1888 in Jacobi Printer's Vocab. s.v. |
3. The ‘hand’ that one writes; handwriting. Now only jocular.
| [1524 R. Dolphine Let. 19 Apr. in M.A.E. Wood Lett. R. Ladies (1846) II. 23 The letter is subscribed and signed ‘By the rude fist of your servant..Richard Dolphine’.] a 1553 Udall Royster D. iii. v. Loke you on your owne fist, and I will looke on this. 1567 Turberv. Ovid's Ep., Ulysses to Penelope U j b, I knewe thy freendly fist at first. c 1690 in Bagford Ballads (1877) 757 Several Yards of Fist Were wanting to compleat the List. 1864 Derby Day i. 8 Your friend writes a tolerable fist. |
4. attrib. and Comb., as fist-like adj.; fistwise adv.; fist-ball (see quot.); fist-fight, a duel with fists; so fist-fighter, fist-fighting; fist-free a., unharmed by blows; fist-law (= Ger. faustrecht), the right of the strongest; fist-mate, an opponent in a boxing-match; † fist-meat, in phr. to eat fist-meat, to receive a blow in the mouth from a fist; fist-note, in Printing, matter of particular importance signalled by a symbol in the shape of a hand with the index finger extended; fist-work, fighting with the fists. Also close-fist.
| 1585 Higins tr. Nomenclator 296 Follis..a *fist ball or a wind ball beaten with the fists to and fro in play. |
| 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. v. iv. 773 At hurl-bats and *fist-fight. 1873 J. H. Beadle Undevel. West iv. 88 Dances, drunks and fist-fights met with a sudden interruption. 1961 A. Miller Misfits xi. 128 A blasted look is on Gay's face, as though he had been beaten in a fistfight in a cause he only half-believed. |
| 1950 J. Dempsey Championship Fighting xvi. 89 They [sc. shovels] are particularly valuable for the *fist-fighter. |
| Ibid. i. 9 Exploding body-weight is the most important weapon in *fist-fighting or in boxing. |
| 1615 T. Tomkis Albumazar v. ix, Neuer a sute I wore today, but hath been soundly basted. Onely this faithfull Countrey-case 'scap't *fist-free. |
| 1831 Examiner 436/1 It was probably acquired..by *fist-law (the jus gladii, or Faustrecht, of the old Civilians). 1856 R. A. Vaughan Mystics (1860) I. 35 A rough age of fist-law. |
| 1647 R. Stapylton Juvenal 214 Hie [His?] *fist-like dowcets. |
| 1834 Landor Wks. (1846) II. 239/2 A third [fights] because the next parish is an eyesore to him, and his *fist-mate is from it. |
| 1563 Jack Juggler (Grosart 1873) 47 Gentlemen are you disposed to eat any *fist-mete? |
| 1934 Webster, *Fist-note. 1967 Dict. Canadianisms xix/2 Within many entries are short notes (identified by this symbol ☛ and called ‘fist-notes’). |
| 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xx. 150 As my hand and my fyngres, Vnfolde oþer yfolde, a *fust-wise oþer elles, Al is hit bote on hand. a 1603 T. Cartwright Confut. Rhem. N.T. (1618) 514 The same hand which being first stretched forth palm-wise, is after gathered fist-wise. |
| 1819 T. Moore Tom Crib's Mem. (ed. 3) 6 A Ring and fair *fist-work at Aix-la-Chapelle. |
▪ II. fist, n.2
(faɪst)
Forms: 5 fyyst, 5–7, 9 fiste, 6–7 fiest, fyest, fyst(e, 9 Sc. feist, 7, 9 fist. Also foist.
[First appears in 15th c., though OE. has the vbl. n. f{iacu}sting (see under fist v.2). The various WGer. langs. have synonymous words representing the three ablaut-types faist-, fîst-, fist-: MDu. veest, mod.Du. vijst, MLG. vîst, mod.HG. fist. Cf. ON. f{iacu}sa (Da. fise) to break wind, and see fise n.
A view widely held is that OTeut. *fisti- is f. *fest:—OAryan *pezd- whence L. pēdere, Gr. βδέω (from bzd-), Lith. bezdyti, and that the root fī̆s was evolved from this; but the hypothesis does not clearly account for the facts.]
† 1. A breaking wind, a foul smell, stink. Obs.
| 1440 Promp. Parv. 163/1 Fyyst, stynk, lirida. 1511 Demaundes joyous in Kemble Salomon (1848) 288 It is fartes and fyestes. a 1529 Skelton Elynour Rummyng 343 Jone sayne she had eaten a fyest; By Christ, sayde she, thou lyest, I haue as swete a breth As thou. 1605 B. Jonson, etc. Eastward Hoe iv, F iv b, Marry, fyste o' your kindnesse. I thought as much. 1611 Cotgr., Secrette..a fiste. 1664 Cotton Scarron. 44 With that he whistled out most mainly. You might have heard his Fist..From one side of the skie to th' t' other. |
† 2. The fungus usually known as puff-ball (Lycoperdon bovista). Also called bullfist, puckfist (see those words) and wolves' fist. Obs.
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal iii. clxii. 1386 Puffe Fistes are commonly called in Latine Lupi crepitus or Woolfes Fistes. 1611 Cotgr., Vesse de loup, the dustie or smoakie Toad⁓stole called..Bull fyste, Puffyst, wolues fyste. |
3. U.S. dial. A small dog. Cf. fisting-hound.
| 1860 Bartlett Dict. Amer., Fiste (i as in mice). |
4. Comb., fist-ball = fuzz-ball, puff-ball.
| 1635 Herrick K. Obron's Feast Poems (1869) 471 A little fust-ball [1648 Hesper. 137 Fuz-ball] pudding standes By. 1640 Parkinson Theat. Bot. xiv. lxiv. 1324 The Fusse balls or rather Foist or Fist balls. |
▪ III. fist, v.1
(fɪst)
[f. fist n.1]
† 1. intr. To fight with the fists. Obs.
| ? a 1300 Salomon & Sat. (1848) 272 Þou most fist and fle ylome wiþ eye ant wiþ herte. 1705 [see fisting vbl. n.]. |
2. a. trans. To strike with the fist, beat, punch.
| 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, ii. i. 23 If I but fist him once. 1681 Dryden Sp. Friar v. ii, I saw him spurning and fisting her most unmercifully. 1876 Tennyson Harold i. i, The boy would fist me hard. |
b. spec. in Assoc. Football. Also absol.
| 1909 Daily Chron. 1 Feb. 8/5 The latter unobserved by the referee fisted the ball into the net..and a goal was allowed. 1937 Times 15 Feb. 6 Bigot first hooked the ball in when Hankey had fisted out a troublesome free-kick by Payen. 1970 Times 30 Sept. 15/4 Ferencvaros continued to press—Clemence fisted clear. |
3. To grasp or seize with the fist; to handle. Now esp. Naut. † to fist about, to hand round.
| 1607 Shakes. Cor. iv. v. 131 We haue beene downe together in my sleepe..fisting each others Throat. 1685 Cotton tr. Montaigne I. 621 Neither is it [the Bible] a book for every one to fist. 1701 Farquhar Sir H. Wildair ii. i, I warrant they [salvers] were fisted about among his dirty levee of disbanded officers. 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast 124 We had to fist the sail with bare hands. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Fist, to handle a rope or sail promptly. 1870 Meade Ride N. Zealand 356 To see me take off my coat and fist an oar. |
† 4. to fist (a person) with: to place in his hand, to make to accept. Obs. rare.
| 1599 Life Sir T. More in Wordsw. Eccl. Biog. II. 85 For all theire importunate pressinge of him they could by no means fist him with one penny thereof. |
Hence ˈfisting vbl. n., the action of the vb.
| 1608 Shakes. Per. iv. vi. 177 To the choleric fisting of every rogue Thy ear is liable. 1705 E. Ward Hud. Rediv. i. i. 88 Each Zealot's Purity consisting In bitter Words, and sometimes fisting. |
Add: 5. To form (the hand) into a fist; to clench (the fingers) (also with together). U.S.
| 1953 C. A. Lindbergh Spirit of St. Louis vi. 236 I'd fisted my hands inside their mittens to keep the fingers warm. a 1963 S. Plath Crossing Water (1971) 17 In my well-boiled hospital shift..I roll to an anteroom where a kind man Fists my fingers for me. 1963 ― Bell Jar ix. 115 Then I fisted my fingers together and smashed them at his nose. 1969 V. Nabokov Ada i. v. 39 He noticed Ada's trick of hiding her fingernails by fisting her hand. |
▸ trans. coarse slang. a. To stimulate (the penis) manually, as a means of sexual gratification.
| c 1890 fisting n. at Additions 1972 B. Rodgers Queens' Vernacular 115 Hey, legs! There's a five in it if you fist it off for me! 1991 Independent on Sunday 19 May (Sunday Review Suppl.) 29/1 He gives his rent boy champagne, and has him stand naked and recite his sexual history while fisting his dick, his shlonger, his shvontz. |
b. = fist-fuck v. 2.
| 1982 D. Altman Homosexualization of Amer. vi. 203 The crucial questions posed by sadomasochism are not whether it is good or bad or even a sign of decadence that men fist and piss on each other. 1997 E. White Farewell Symphony (1998) ii. 76 I'd dated my doctor, he'd even fisted me once on an afternoon on Fire Island when we were both stoned and bathed in a sea of grease. 2000 Village Voice (N.Y.) 18 Apr. 172 When one woman fists another, it is a defiant act—bold, outrageous, boundary-busting. |
▸ fisting n. spec. (coarse slang), (a) male masturbation (rare); (b) = fist-fucking n. 2.
| c 1890 My Secret Life VIII. 1546 After some violent *fisting of his tool, he rose. 1981 Psychol. Today May 82 Some offensively detailed pages on the technology of what is called fisting. 1991 A. Nikiforuk Fourth Horseman x. 170 The only thing revolutionary about promiscuity, fisting or rimming was that they exposed gay men to more blood, feces, bacteria, protozoa and viruses than any peasant encountered in Bangladesh. 2002 Diva Mar. 27 (advt.) Contains good advice on everything from g-spot stimulation to anal sex, vaginal fisting, and other favourite lesbian sex techniques. |
▪ IV. † fist, v.2 Obs.
Forms: 5 fyistyn, 6 fyest, (flesten, fysthe), 6–7 fyst(e.
[? OE. *f{iacu}stan (? implied in f{iacu}sting vbl. n.), f. *f{iacu}st n. (see prec.); cf. Du. vijsten, veesten, MHG. visten.]
intr. To break wind.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 163/1 Fyistyn, cacco, lirido. 1530 Palsgr. 549/1 Beware nowe thou fysthe nat. 1570 Levins Manip. 92/25 To Fyest, pedere. 1605 Marston Dutch Courtezan iv. v. G ij, I must fiddle him till he fyst. 1611 Cotgr., Vessir, to fyste, to let a fyste. |
Hence ˈfisting vbl. n. Also ˈfister, one who fists.
| c 1000 ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 162/43 Fesiculatio, fisting. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 163/1 Fyystynge, liridacio. 1527 Andrew Brunswyke's Distyll. Waters F ij, As with fystynge and shytyng. 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Cest vn gros, vn grand vesseur, a great farter or fyster. 1611 Cotgr., Venneur, a fizzler or fyster. |