gest

1 of 2

noun (1)

ˈjest 

variants or geste

1

: a tale of adventures

especially : a romance in verse

2

: adventure, exploit

knightly gests

geste

2 of 2

noun (2)

ˈjest 

variants or less commonly gest

1

archaic : deportment

2

archaic : gesture

Did you know?

"Let the Queen know of our gests," Antony instructs his men after a hard-won victory on the battlefield in William Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra. Great deeds and heroic acts have been the stuff of gests since medieval days; in fact, the word is more often associated with knights and heroes of old than with modern adventurers. We may not be hearing about many 21st century gests, but we do frequently encounter other relatives of the word. Gest traces to Latin gestus, the past participle of the verb gerere, which means "to wage," "to bear," or "to carry," among other things. That Latin verb gave us stoutly enduring words like gesture, ingest, jest, register, and suggest.

Synonyms of gest

Noun (1)

• experience
• adventure
• time

Noun (2)

• actions
• behavior
• demeanor

Examples of gest in a Sentence

Noun (1)

before packing it all in, he was looking for one grand gest that would serve as a fitting finale for his life

Noun (2)

historical fiction in which the hero faces every adversity with honorable geste

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Il sera bien sûr pris en compte que le salarié regrette son geste et dit avoir agi sous le coup de l’émotion alors qu’il venait d’éviter de percuter le jeune, qui a traversé de façon dangereuse et qui a insulté le conducteur. —Amy Lieu, Fox News, 21 Sep. 2018

A: While opening his home was a beau geste on your friend's part, closing the door to his boss guest is easier said than done. —Michelle Nicolosi, OregonLive.com, 3 Aug. 2017

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

Middle English gest, geste, jeste — more at jest entry 1

Noun (2)

Middle English geste, from Anglo-French, from Latin gestus, from gerere

First Known Use

Noun (1)

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun (2)

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing gest

• beau geste
• chanson de geste

Rhymes for gest

• blessed
• blest
• breast
• chest
• crest
• dressed
• fest
• geste
• guessed
• jest
• lest
• messed

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