fist
pronunciation
How to pronounce fist in British English:
UK [fɪst]
How to pronounce fist in American English:
US [fɪst]
-
- Noun:
- a hand with the fingers clenched in the palm (as for hitting)
Word Origin
- fist
- fist: [OE] Like finger, fist seems etymologically to be a reference to the number of fingers on the hand. It comes from a prehistoric West Germanic *fūstiz (source also of German faust and Dutch vuist). This may represent an earlier *fungkhstiz, which has been referred to an Indo- European ancestor *pngkstis, a derivative of *pengke ‘five’. (Dutch vuist ‘fist’, incidentally, is probably the source of English foist [16], which originally denoted the dishonest concealing of a dice in one’s hand.)=> finger, five, foist
- fist (n.)
- Old English fyst "fist, clenched hand," from West Germanic *fustiz (cognates: Old Saxon fust, Old High German fust, Old Frisian fest, Middle Dutch vuust, Dutch vuist, German Faust), from Proto-Germanic *funhstiz, probably ultimately from PIE *penkwe- "five" (see five, and compare Old Church Slavonic pesti, Russian piasti "fist"). Meaning "a blow with the fist" is from 1767. Fist-fight "duel with the fists" is from c. 1600. As a verb, Old English had fystlian "to strike with the fist."
Example
- 1. When you can no longer make a fist .
- 2. Suppose my fist were always like that . What would you call it ?
- 3. When at church giving thanks , instead of shaking the person 's hand , you give them a fist pound instead .
- 4. Metal glinted in his fist .
- 5. Turn the dough out and press it down with your fist .