leister

American  

[lee-ster] / ˈli stər /

noun

1. a spearlike implement having three or more prongs, for use in spearing fish.

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verb (used with object)

1. to spear (fish) with a leister.

leister British  

/ ˈliːstə /

noun

1. a spear with three or more prongs for spearing fish, esp salmon

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verb

1. (tr) to spear (a fish) with a leister

Etymology

Origin of leister

1525–35; < Old Norse ljōstr salmon-spear, akin to ljōsta to strike

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

leister

Fifteenth.—I think your leister requires a more rigorous definition.

From Essays in Natural History and Agriculture by Thomas Garnett

I there wi' Something did forgather, That pat me in an eerie swither; An' awfu' scythe, out-owre ae shouther, Clear-dangling, hang; A three-tae'd leister on the ither Lay, large an' lang.

From Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns

This throwing leister was a heavy spear, or rather a heavy "graip," having five single-barbed prongs of unequal length but regularly graduated.

From Stories of the Border Marches by Jeanie Lang

You have not got a leister in the boat, have you?

From John Deane of Nottingham Historic Adventures by Land and Sea by William Henry Giles Kingston

By the by, Clinkum, I want a leister of your making; for I see there is no other tradesman makes them so well.

From The Shepherd's Calendar Volume I (of II) by James Hogg