Definitions

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

  • noun A combat between two mounted knights or men-at-arms using lances; a tilting match.
  • noun A series of tilting matches; a tournament.
  • noun A personal competition or combat suggestive of combat with lances.
  • intransitive verb To engage in mounted combat with lances; tilt.
  • intransitive verb To engage in a personal combat or competition.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun See just, etc.

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

  • intransitive verb To engage in mock combat on horseback, as two knights in the lists; to tilt.
  • intransitive verb To engage in a competition involving one-to-one struggle with an opponent.
  • noun A tilting match; a mock combat on horseback between two knights in the lists or inclosed field.
  • noun Any competition involving one-to-one struggle with an opponent.

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

  • noun A tilting match: a mock combat between two mounted knights or men-at-arms using lances in the lists or enclosed field.
  • verb To engage in mock combat on horseback, as two knights in the lists; to tilt.

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

  • verb joust against somebody in a tournament by fighting on horseback
  • noun a combat between two mounted knights tilting against each other with blunted lances

Etymologies

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

[Middle English, from Old French juste, from juster, to joust, from Vulgar Latin *iūxtāre, to be next to, from Latin iūxtā, close by; see yeug- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French jouster (modern French: jouter), from late popular Latin juxtare. English since the early 14th century.

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Examples

  • The joust was a contest between two knights; the tournament, between two bands of knights.

    Early European History Hutton Webster

  • Mr Evans, you frequently misrepresent PMQs as some kind of joust, but as the PM has all the advantage and the usual purpose of oppostion leaders is to position themselves for the evening news, I feel you often give a poor analysis.

    Tony Blair: The Next Labour Prime Minister? 2010

  • Mr Evans, you frequently misrepresent PMQs as some kind of joust, but as the PM has all the advantage and the usual purpose of oppostion leaders is to position themselves for the evening news, I feel you often give a poor analysis.

    Tony Blair: The Next Labour Prime Minister? 2010

  • She had looked up 'joust' in the dictionary, and it seemed to her that in these few words was contained the kernel of her trouble.

    The Man Upstairs and Other Stories 1928

  • This opening sprint is called the "joust," and if the respective jousters miraculously don't decapitate each other in the jockeying for first possession, the game is on.

    LJWorld.com stories: News 2010

  • This opening sprint is called the "joust," and if the respective jousters miraculously don't decapitate each other in the jockeying for first possession, the game is on.

    LJWorld.com stories: News 2010

  • This opening sprint is called the "joust," and if the respective jousters miraculously don't decapitate each other in the jockeying for first possession, the game is on.

    LJWorld.com stories: News 2010

  • The long-running late-night chat shows with David Letterman (CBS) and Jay Leno (NBC) went on to poke fun at politicians routinely, even inviting them on to the shows in a kind of joust to test how much good humour they can muster in the face of the host's jabs.

    Adrian Monck 2009

  • The long-running late-night chat shows with David Letterman (CBS) and Jay Leno (NBC) went on to poke fun at politicians routinely, even inviting them on to the shows in a kind of joust to test how much good humour they can muster in the face of the host's jabs.

    Adrian Monck 2009

  • "[T] his engaging read, or read-aloud, is" joust "the ticket for all young fans of non-gender-specific knightly valor.

    Igraine The Brave by Cornelia Funke: Book summary 2010

Comments

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  • To ride a horse toward an opponent. Knights joused against each other centuries ago.

    December 6, 2010