cestus

¹ American  

[ses-tuhs] / ˈsɛs təs /

especially British, cestos

noun

plural

cesti

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.

plural

cestuses

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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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

Example Sentences

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

Like Entellus, he might say,— "Hic victor cestus artemque repono."

From The History of Dartmouth College by Smith, Baxter Perry

Ah! believe me, it is she who has the cestus!

From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson Swanston Edition Vol. 6 (of 25) by Stevenson, Robert Louis

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 The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 13, No. 75, January, 1864 by Various

By all means let the "profession" take the cestus from the hands of the highwayman and adopt it themselves.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 03, No. 19, May, 1859 by Various