fist

Meanings

Noun

• A hand with the fingers clenched or curled inward.
• The pointing hand symbol ☞.
• The characteristic signaling rhythm of an individual telegraph or CW operator when sending Morse code.
• A person's characteristic handwriting.
• A group of men.
• The talons of a bird of prey.
• An attempt at something.
• The act of breaking wind; fise.
• A puffball.

Verb

• To strike with the fist.
• To close (the hand) into a fist.
• To grip with a fist.
• To fist-fuck.
• To break wind.

Related

Similar words

• bunch of fives
• fist-size
• ductus

Origin

• From Middle English fist, from Old English fȳst, from Proto-West Germanic *fūsti, of uncertain origin. Cognate with Dutch vuist, German Faust. More at five.
• , from Proto-Germanic *fistaz ("breaking wind, fart"), from Proto-Germanic *fīsaną ("to break or discharge wind, fart"), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peys- ("to blow, breathe"). Cognate with Dutch veest ("a fart"), Low German fisten ("to break wind"), German Fist ("a quiet wind"), Fisten, Swedish fisa ("to fart"), Latin spīrō ("breathe, blow"), Albanian fryj ("to blow, breath").