cesta

American  

[ses-tuh] / ˈsɛs tə /

noun

Jai Alai.

1. a narrow, curved basket fitted on one end to a wooden handle with a glovelike compartment at the base, for catching and throwing the ball.

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Etymology

Origin of cesta

1900–05; < Spanish: literally, basket < Latin cista chest

Example Sentences

That explains the oversized glove, which for Anderson felt like a jai alai cesta compared with the modest mitts infielders use.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 9, 2025

While jai-alai has been played for centuries in the mountains of Spain�where boys begin strapping on the huge, curved wicker cesta as toddlers�the game is played mainly at the $2 window in the U.S.

From Time Magazine Archive

A cesta is ribbed, however, and the patterned wicker puts more English on the ball than can be found in most freshman college classes.

From Time Magazine Archive

His replies came back sharp and swift as a pelota from a cesta.

From Zone Policeman 88; a close range study of the Panama canal and its workers by Franck, Harry Alverson

A man accompanying them, it developed, knew Cuba and Jai Alai, and he secured for the amusement of the others a cesta, the basket-like racquet worn strapped to the arm.

From San Crist?bal de la Habana by Hergesheimer, Joseph