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In some parts of the southern United States, the word feist (pronounced to rhyme with heist) has been used since the 18th century as a term for a small dog used in hunting more diminutive game animals (such as squirrels). The word comes from the much older, now obsolete word fisting (pronounced as “feisting” would be) meaning “breaking wind,” which was used scornfully in the 16th and 17th centuries to describe gassy pooches. Feisty developed in the late 19th century, its flatulent origin lost, but its small-dog association still visible with a squint: the term conveys the spunk and determination that one may associate with a dog that manages to make its presence known, through its bark or its bite—or perhaps even its indifference to olfactory decorum—despite its small size.
Examples of feisty in a Sentence
Wynonna Judd, quoted in Rolling Stone, 8-22 July 1993
Humorist Cynthia Heimel never plays it safe, bless her feisty little heart. She's outrageous and hilarious, daring to say exactly what she and millions of other women really think …
—Donna Seaman, Booklist, 15 May 1993
… Milwaukee was the last major industrial city to elect a Socialist mayor—Frank P. Zeidler, a feisty octogenarian who teaches today at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee …
—Charles P. Pierce, Village Voice, 10 Mar. 1992
She never tired of hearing anecdotes from her childhood, and she particularly liked to hear how feisty she had been …
—Lorene Cary, Black Ice, 1991
The novel features a feisty heroine.
Even her opponents admire her feisty spirit.
Eric Andersson, People.com, 24 Apr. 2025
The language-learning app, known for its feisty owl mascot, launched an initial version of a chess course for English users with Apple devices on April 22.
—Greta Cross, USA Today, 23 Apr. 2025
If that doesn’t happen, the Knicks will not make it out of the first round against a feisty Pistons defense hellbent on spoiling New York’s 51-win season.
—Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News, 22 Apr. 2025
Now, New York goes into a series against the young, feisty Pistons, who defeated the Knicks three times during the regular season.
—The Athletic Nba Staff, New York Times, 12 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for feisty
Cite this Entry
“Feisty.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/feisty. Accessed 3 May. 2025.
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