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leister

American  
[lee-ster] / ˈli stər /

noun

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


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

"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

verb

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

"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

Etymology

Origin of leister

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


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

It does not fall to the lot of all men to handle with equal dexterity the brush, the pen, and the rod—to say nothing of the rifle—still less of the leister, under cloud of night.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 54, No. 333, July 1843 by Various

Vb. leister in Sco., to strike fish with a spear or leister.

From Scandinavian influence on Southern Lowland Scotch by George Tobias Flom

Saying this the reckless youth sallied forth with the spear or leister on his shoulder, and took the narrow bridle path leading up the glen.

From Erling the Bold by R. M. (Robert Michael) Ballantyne

Yet when anon he came to cast this leister at the muckle kipper, "the 14 lb. waster stottit off his back as if he had been a bag o' wool."

From Stories of the Border Marches by Jeanie Lang

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

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