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foist

[foist]
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verb (used with object)
  1. to force upon or impose fraudulently or unjustifiably (usually followed by on or upon): to foist inferior merchandise on a customer.
  2. to bring, put, or introduce surreptitiously or fraudulently (usually followed by in or into): to foist political views into a news story.
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Origin of foist

1535–45; < Dutch dialect vuisten, derivative of vuist fist1
Related formsun·foist·ed, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for foisted

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • They are not to be foisted on one's readers as anything "ex cathedra."

    Visions and Revisions

    John Cowper Powys

  • It was also, he said, the duty of the Council to buy a barometer the rogue had foisted upon him.

    Ghetto Comedies

    Israel Zangwill

  • It was foisted upon that which had already a venerable antiquity.

  • Manfred, what kind of a crazed camel have you foisted off on me?

  • I have a strong fatherly instinct and all the foundlings are foisted on me.

    Roughing It

    Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)

British Dictionary definitions for foisted

foist

verb (tr)
  1. (often foll by off or on) to sell or pass off (something, esp an inferior article) as genuine, valuable, etc
  2. (usually foll by in or into) to insert surreptitiously or wrongfully
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Word Origin

C16: probably from obsolete Dutch vuisten to enclose in one's hand, from Middle Dutch vuist fist
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

Word Origin and History for foisted

foist

v.

1540s, from Dutch vuisten "take in hand," from Middle Dutch vuist "fist" (see fist). Earliest sense was cheating at dice by concealing a loaded one in the palm of the hand with the intention of introducing it into play; meaning "introduce surreptitiously" is from 1560s. Related: Foisted; foisting.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper