feist

or fice fist

[fahyst]

noun

Chiefly South Midland and Southern U.S. a small mongrel dog, especially one that is ill-tempered; cur; mutt.

verb (used without object)

South Midland U.S. to prance or strut about: Look at him feist around in his new clothes.

Origin of feist

1760–70; compare (from 16th cent.) fisting hound, fisting cur, as contemptuous epithets for any kind of dog (present participle of fist to break wind, late Middle English; compare Old English fisting breaking wind, Middle Low German vīst, German Fist fart); (def 2) perhaps back formation from feisty

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for feist

Contemporary Examples of feist

Before Feist can reply, his political director, Mark Preston, looks up from his BlackBerry.
Republicans Battle in Arizona: Why the Debates Matter
Andrew Romano
February 22, 2012
Feist is familiar, of course, with the objections that have been leveled against the 2012 debates lately.
Republicans Battle in Arizona: Why the Debates Matter
Andrew Romano
February 22, 2012
Feist pauses and smiles, convinced that he has convinced me.
Republicans Battle in Arizona: Why the Debates Matter
Andrew Romano
February 22, 2012
Feist cover “Limit to Your Love” [below] manages to improve on the original, and is one of the best songs of the year.
Best Music Albums of 2011: The Weeknd, Drake, Britney Spears, and More
Marlow Stern
December 31, 2011

Historical Examples of feist

Feist compares it with English and considers it a “mixed language” almost from the start, and many facts seem to favor this view.
The New Stone Age in Northern Europe
John M. Tyler
Mon frre Annemond Coct, chevalier, au partir du pays me feist son heritier.
History of the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century, Volume III
J. H. Merle D'Aubign

Word Origin and History for feist

also fist, "a breaking wind, foul smell, fart," mid-15c. (Old English had present participle fisting), a general West Germanic word; cf. Middle Dutch veest, Dutch vijst (see feisty).