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

It was of her that the Doctor said, “If she spoke rustic Greek instead of bad English, and wore a cestus instead of an ill-fitting corset, you’d swear she was a goddess.”

From The Life of Bret Harte With Some Account of the California Pioneers by Merwin, Henry Childs

Pelagia’s tip to Hypatia’s father was the dancer’s cestus, which was jewelled with precious stones enough to stock the shop of a Bond Street jeweller of our own time.

From The Idler Magazine, Volume III., July 1893 An Illustrated Monthly by Various

The one stared with the eyes of a virgin at her broken cestus, the other plained softly: "Vanity of vanities ... all is vanity."

From Shadows of Flames A Novel by Rives, Amélie

The cestus, like our "brass-knuckle," was a thong of hide, loaded with lead, and bound over the hand.

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