cestus

¹ American  

[ses-tuhs] / ˈsɛs təs /

especially British, cestos

noun

• cesti
  plural

1. a girdle or belt, especially as worn by women of ancient Greece.

2. Classical Mythology. the girdle of Venus, decorated with every object that could arouse amorous desire.

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cestus ² American  

[ses-tuhs] / ˈsɛs təs /

noun

Roman Antiquity.

• cestuses
  plural

1. a hand covering made of leather strips and often covered with metal studs, worn by boxers.

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cestus ¹ British  

/ ˈsɛstəs, ˈsɛstɒs /

noun

1. classical myth the girdle of Aphrodite (Venus) decorated to cause amorousness

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cestus ² British  

/ ˈsɛstəs /

noun

1. (in classical Roman boxing) a pugilist's gauntlet of bull's hide loaded or studded with metal

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• cesti
  plural
• cestuses
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of cestus¹

1570–80; < Latin < Greek kestós a girdle, literally, (something) stitched, equivalent to kes- (variant stem of kenteîn to stitch; see center) + -tos verbal adjective suffix

Origin of cestus²

1725–35; < Latin cestus, caestus

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cestus cesti cestuses

They were the Army's cestus in punch after armed punch on the slogging road across North Africa, in the invasions of Sicily and Italy.

From Time Magazine Archive

He cared no more either for the prowess of two combatants who, wearing a cestus on the left arm, fought with sticks.

From The Works of Theophile Gautier, Volume 5 The Romance of a Mummy and Egypt by Frederick C. de (Frederick Caesar de) Sumichrast

Nay, is not this very interfusion of gifts, this universality of uses, in itself the bond of beauty which girdles the world like a cestus?

From In the Days of My Youth by Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards

From her waist fell a golden net-work, like a cestus, with little golden tassels all round.

From Music-Study in Germany from the Home Correspondence of Amy Fay by Amy Fay

Jupiter might as soon keep awake when Juno came in best bib and tucker, and with the cestus of Venus, to get him to sleep.

From Household Papers and Stories by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Stonore: Cest usage est molt encontre la ley, qe cesti qe doit tenir les plees ne poet pas recorder un attourne en ple qe serra plede devant lui mesme.

From Villainage in England Essays in English Mediaeval History by Paul Vinogradoff

The ladies wore bandeaux, cestuses, and ribands, stamped and embroidered with the name of Washington; some in gold and silver letters, and some in pearls.

From Washington and the American Republic, Vol. 3. by Benson John Lossing

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