Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The central idea; the essence. synonym: substance.
  • noun Law The grounds for action in a suit.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The point on which an action rests; the substance or pith of a matter; the main point: as, the gist of an argument.
  • noun A resting-place; a couch.
  • noun A lodging-place; a place of rest or halt in traveling.
  • noun A beam: same as joist.
  • An aphetic form of agist (which see).

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete A resting place.
  • noun The main point, as of a question; the point on which an action rests; the pith of a matter.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The most essential part; the main idea or substance (of a longer or more complicated matter).
  • noun law, dated The essential ground for action in a suit, without which there is no cause of action.
  • noun obsolete Resting place (especially of animals), lodging.
  • verb To summarize, to extract and present the most important parts of.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the choicest or most essential or most vital part of some idea or experience
  • noun the central meaning or theme of a speech or literary work

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Anglo-Norman (cest action) gist, (this action) lies, third person sing. of gesir, to lie, from Latin iacēre; see yē- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French gist, from the verb gesir ("to lie down"), from Latin iaceō. Compare Modern French gésir or gîte ("lodging").

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Examples

Comments

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  • you only remember the gist...

    December 22, 2017

  • Where is the pronunciation link?

    June 21, 2019

  • At the bottom of the page, above the links and Stats.

    June 23, 2019