gist

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gist

(jĭst)

1. The central idea; the essence. See Synonyms at substance.

2. Law The grounds for action in a suit.

[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.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

gist

(dʒɪst)

1. the point or substance of an argument, speech, etc

2. (Law) law the essential point of an action

[C18: from Anglo-French, as in cest action gist en this action consists in, literally: lies in, from Old French gésir to lie, from Latin jacēre, from jacere to throw]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

gist

(dʒɪst)

n.

1. the main or essential point of a matter: the gist of a story.

2. the ground of a legal action.

[1720–30; < Anglo-French (cest action) gist (this matter) lies, derivative of Old French gesir to lie « Latin jacēre]

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Noun	1.	gist - the central meaning or theme of a speech or literary work burden, essence, effect, core meaning, signification, import, significance - the message that is intended or expressed or signified; "what is the meaning of this sentence"; "the significance of a red traffic light"; "the signification of Chinese characters"; "the import of his announcement was ambiguous"
	2.	gist - the choicest or most essential or most vital part of some idea or experience; "the gist of the prosecutor's argument"; "the heart and soul of the Republican Party"; "the nub of the story" essence, heart and soul, inwardness, nitty-gritty, pith, substance, nub, meat, kernel, core, sum, marrow, heart, center, centre cognitive content, mental object, content - the sum or range of what has been perceived, discovered, or learned bare bones - (plural) the most basic facts or elements; "he told us only the bare bones of the story" hypostasis - (metaphysics) essential nature or underlying reality haecceity, quiddity - the essence that makes something the kind of thing it is and makes it different from any other quintessence - the purest and most concentrated essence of something stuff - a critically important or characteristic component; "suspense is the very stuff of narrative"

gist

noun essence, meaning, point, idea, sense, import, core, substance, drift, significance, nub, pith, quintessence He related the gist of his conversation to us.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

gist

noun

The most central and material part:

core, essence, heart, kernel, marrow, meat, nub, pith, quintessence, root, soul, spirit, stuff, substance.

Law: gravamen.

Translations

خُلاصَه، النُّقاط الرَّئيسيَّه

jádropodstata

hovedpunktkerne

Wesentliche

essentiel noyau

aîalatriîi, kjarni

būtība

gist

[dʒɪst] N [of speech, conversation] → lo esencial
to get the gist of sth → captar lo esencial de algo

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

gist

[ˈdʒɪst] n → essentiel m
the gist of his speech → l'essentiel de son discours
to give sb the gist of sth → résumer qch à qn en deux mots

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

gist

n no pl (of report, conversation, argument) → Wesentliche(s) nt; that was the gist of what he said → das war im Wesentlichen, was er gesagt hat; to give somebody the gist of something → jdm sagen, worum es bei etw geht; to get the gist of something/the conversation → im Wesentlichen verstehen, worum es sich bei etw handelt/wovon geredet wird; I got the gist of it → das Wesentliche habe ich verstanden

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

gist

[dʒɪst] n (of speech, conversation) → succo, nocciolo

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

gist

(dʒist) : the gist

the main points (of an argument etc). Just give me the gist of what he said.

References in classic literature ?

Nor could you wonder had you witnessed a recent experience of mine when, in the armor of blissful and stupendous ignorance, I gaily narrated the gist of it to a Fellow of the Royal Geological Society on the occasion of my last trip to London.

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For that was the gist of that article, written evidently by a man who not only knows but UNDERSTANDS - a thing (let me remark in passing) much rarer than one would expect, because the sort of understanding I mean is inspired by love; and love, though in a sense it may be admitted to be stronger than death, is by no means so universal and so sure.

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She paused as if she felt it indecorous to speak of her pregnancy before Pierre, though the gist of the matter lay in that.

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Dorothea told him that she had seen Lydgate, and recited the gist of her conversation with him about the Hospital.

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I have hunted up the guide-books, and the gist of what they say is this: "They are there, but how they got there is a mystery."

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Tarzan repeated the gist of the conversation to his wife.

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"Well, the gist of what you tell me is that the thing is settled and there's no use in talking.

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I knew that she would perhaps be muddled and not take it all in exactly, but I knew, too, that she would grasp the gist of it, very well indeed.

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"I have come to report the gist of a conversation I heard to-day, because I feel that, while there may be nothing to it, it is as well that you be forearmed.

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The result in this instance was that before I had more than assimilated the gist of the word which had been brought to the fields, I was alone, watching my co-workers speeding villageward.

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However I caught the gist of what he was saying--which in effect was that he had found and captured this Galu, that she was his and that he defied anyone to question his right of possession.

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When von Horn returned to the court of mystery, he narrated to Professor Maxon the gist of his conversation with Virginia, wishing to forestall anything which the girl might say to her father that would give him an impression that von Horn had been talking more than he should.