cist

1
[ sist ]

nounClassical Antiquity.
  1. a box or chest, especially for sacred utensils.

Origin of cist

1
1795–1805; <Latin cista<Greek kístēchest

Other definitions for cist (2 of 2)

cist2
[ sist, kist ]

noun
  1. a prehistoric sepulchral tomb or casket.

Origin of cist

2
1795–1805; <Welsh <Latin cista. See cist1
  • Also kist [kist] /kɪst/ .

Other words from cist

  • cisted, adjective
  • cistic, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use cist in a sentence

  • It appears in the later megalithic tombs and the underground stone vaults or cists.

  • On all the roads we ride daily past wall-like stone cists covered with slabs, on which the formula “Om mani padme hum” is carved.

  • In both cists the body lay as in the two last-mentioned graves; one contained a sharp-edged shallow bowl of red ware.

    El Kab | J.E. Quibell
  • We have seen the cists of Saxon times, the coffins formed of several stones placed together in the form of a table.

    English Villages | P. H. Ditchfield
  • Coffins of baked clay and cists formed of tiles have been found at York and at Adlborough.

    Old Church Lore | William Andrews

British Dictionary definitions for cist (1 of 2)

cist1

/ (sɪst) /


noun
  1. a wooden box for holding ritual objects used in ancient Rome and Greece

Origin of cist

1
C19: from Latin cista box, chest, basket, from Greek kistē

British Dictionary definitions for cist (2 of 2)

cist2

kist

/ (sɪst) /


noun
  1. archaeol a box-shaped burial chamber made from stone slabs or a hollowed tree trunk

Origin of cist

2
C19: from Welsh: chest, from Latin cista box; see cist 1

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012