gest

American  

[jest] / dʒɛst /

Or geste

noun

1. a story or tale.

2. a deed or exploit.

3. Archaic. a metrical romance or history.

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gest British  

/ dʒɛst /

noun

1. a notable deed or exploit

2. a tale of adventure or romance, esp in verse See also chanson de geste

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Etymology

Origin of gest

1250–1300; Middle English < Old French geste action, exploit < Latin gesta exploits, neuter plural past participle of gerere to carry on, perform

Explanation

A gest is something you would read about in a tale of King Arthur, such as a heroic deed or exploit by one of Arthur's knights. Geste is another spelling of the word. A gest may also be a poem or story about an epic deed or exploit. For example, The Song of Roland is an 11th-century French poem or gest about the heroic deeds of the emperor Charlemagne's knights. In fact, the French word geste is where we got our word gest in the medieval period, since French literature was the main source of such stories and poems. The Song of Roland belongs to a category of poem called chanson de geste in French, "song of heroic deeds."

Example Sentences

If a phrase sparks the gest of song memory endures longer — like the hum of a taut string in the dark.

From New York Times • Jan. 28, 2021

Sire: I respectfully sug gest and in your behalf implore that you relieve me completely from all my duties in connection with your American tour.

From Time Magazine Archive

He is the biggest star of the world's big gest spectator sport � soccer � and he is only 22.

From Time Magazine Archive

It does sug gest, however, that all education should ideally be integrated with workaday life, using flexible, out-of-school approaches that make education start in very early childhood and end only with death.

From Time Magazine Archive

“You could see your neighbor very dimly. Those ten seconds were the lon- gest ten seconds that I ever experienced.”

From "Bomb" by Steve Sheinkin