Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A woman's belt or girdle, especially as worn in ancient Greece.
- n. A covering for the hand made of leather straps weighted with iron or lead and worn by boxers in ancient Rome.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In Gr. and Rom. antiq., a girdle of any kind, whether worn by men or by women; particularly, the Greek girdle for confining the tunic, and specifically the girdle or zone of Venus, which was said to be decorated with everything that could awaken love.
- n. In zoology: A ctenophoran; one of the Cestidæ. Same as Cestum.
- n. Among the Greeks and Romans, a kind of boxing-glove or gauntlet, consisting of stout leather thongs or straps, often loaded with lead or iron, fastened on the hands and arms of boxers (called cestuarii) to render their blows more effective. At first the cestus was worn reaching no higher than the wrist, but it was afterward extended to the elbows, was more heavily weighted, and became, particularly among the Romans, a terrible weapon.
Wiktionary
- n. A leather fighting glove, frequently weighed with metal.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Antiq.) A girdle; particularly that of Aphrodite (or Venus) which gave the wearer the power of exciting love.
- n. (Zoöl.) A genus of Ctenophora. The typical species (Cestus Veneris) is remarkable for its brilliant iridescent colors, and its long, girdlelike form.
- n. (Antiq.) A covering for the hands of boxers, made of leather bands, and often loaded with lead or iron.
Etymologies
- From Latin cestus. (Wiktionary)
- Latin, belt, from Greek kestos; see kent- in Indo-European roots.Latin caestus, from caedere, to strike; see kaə-id- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“After a little research, he found this weapon called a cestus, and then gave it a Nemean lion design, and he believes that look influenced a lot of the grabbing gameplay now found in the finished game.”
“[Footnote 468: I have avoided translating "cestus," as it is very doubtful what is meant by it.”
“Instantly, Miss Skiffins stopped it with the neatness of a placid boxer, took off that girdle or cestus as before, and laid it on the table.”
“His waist expanded, or was no longer confined by the cestus which had given it a shape.”
“He flung aside the dagger-wielder with his left arm, and smashed his broken hilt like a cestus into the swordsman's temple.”
“One of the family, developing along different lines, is even better of its hands; remarkable to tell, it carries a cestus of hardened shell as a means of protection and enforcing its rights.”
“Through the cestus, the song of the two blades danced across Laronnar's skin, skittered along his bones.”
“Keeping his gaze warily on his commander, Laronnar pulled out the cestus that he wore looped over his weapons belt and worked it onto his hand.”
“He reached under his belt and pulled out his cestus, slipping it over his fingers, driving the metal into his flesh to help retain his failing consciousness.”
“Other weapons included a brass cestus, punch-daggers, ring blades.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘cestus’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11250 more...
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(more or less) Temporary Urth List
Temporary list is temporary.
Collecting a few words here, which are then to be alloted to other lists.vassal, gnaw, putrescence, liege, pederasty, disseminate, loot, waning, fitful, hiatuse, plow, pious and 292 more...
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words found to be generally pleasing
alabaster, mahogany, camphor, coalesce, spire, portmanteau, gadabout, palaver, dolor, dour, dun, luminesce and 610 more...
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Ancient Greek Costume Box
cestus, cestus (gloves), myrmex, sphairai, buskin, cothurnus, calotte, camisia, chlamys, chiton, exomis, tunic and 5 more...
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Words from the Works of Charles Dickens
A delightful collection of words found in my reading of Dickens.
perspicuity, farinaceous, superciliously, epergne, staylace, sanguinary, myrmidon, suborned, linchpin, depreciatory, unremunerative, propitiation and 18 more...
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Belt or Girdle
Words meaning a belt or girdle.
Tweets
Looking for tweets for cestus.
jinglebelljosie kind of belt worn by women of ancient greece Sep 17, 2008
johnmperry plural is cestus too Aug 17, 2008