Definitions

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  • noun Plural form of leister.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • The illumination of the banks of the river, the activity of the men striking the salmon with the "leisters," and the shouting of the people when a fish was struck, was an animated, and picturesque, but cruel scene.

    Personal Recollections, from Early Life to Old Age, of Mary Somerville Mary Somerville 1826

  • Rifles, snowmobiles, and gasoline are now as effective a part of Inuit subsistence as dog teams, seal oil lamps, and fishing leisters were sixty years ago.

    Climate change impacts on Canadian Inuit in Nunavut 2009

  • After surveying his ancestors 'portraits we adjourned to the hall, which was furnished with battle-axes, Jethart spears, basket-hilted swords, maces, salmon leisters, masks of otters and foumarts, foxes and badgers, and all the various trophies of Border sport and warfare of old time.

    Border Ghost Stories Howard Pease

  • Together they went to the night fishing, where Brown heard the leisters or steel tridents ringing on the stones at the bottom of the water, as the fishers struck at the salmon in the light of the blazing torches kindled to attract the fish.

    Red Cap Tales Stolen from the Treasure Chest of the Wizard of the North Samuel Rutherford Crockett

  • The salmon, as they lay in the clear, sun-lit water, were speared from a boat, and vast numbers were so killed; indeed, the frightened fish had small chance of escape, for spearing began at the pool's foot, and men with leisters blocked the way of escape up stream.

    Stories of the Border Marches Jeanie Lang

  • They had their leisters and tar torches, and it was something worth seeing — the wild flame, the young fellows striking the fish coming to the light — how splendid they looked with the light on their scales, coming out of the darkness — the stumblings and quenchings suddenly of the lights, as the torch-bearer fell into a deep pool.

    Spare Hours John Brown 1846

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