Pl. xysti. Also 7 zystus, pl. xisti; 8–9 xystos, 9 zystos; 8–9 xystum, pl. xysta (7 erron. xystas). Also in anglicized form xyst. [L. xystus masc., also xystum neut., ad. Gr. ξυστός, prop. sb. use of the masc. of ξυστός adj.: see prec.] Among the ancient Greeks, a long covered portico or court used for athletic exercises; among the ancient Romans, an open colonnade, or walk planted with trees, used for recreation and conversation; hence occas. allusively.
1664. Evelyn, trans. Freart’s Archit., 132. Those large Xystas, Porticos, Atrias and Vestibula of the Greeks and Romans. Ibid. (1696), Lett. to Wotton, 28 Oct. Spacious plots of ground … built about with porticos, xisti, & noble ranges of pillars.
1696. Phillips (ed. 5), Zystus, was a Place where the Wrestlers exercis’d. Ibid. (1706) (ed. Kersey), Xystos, a large Portico or Gallery, where the Greek Wrestlers us’d to practise in Winter-time. Ibid., Xystus or Xystum (among the Romans) an open Walking-Place…; also a Knot-Garden.
1721. (title) The Architecture of A. Palladio … containing A short Treatise of the Five Orders … also The different Construction of Private and Publick Houses, High-ways, Bridges, Market-places, Xystes, and Temples…. Revised … By Giacomo Leoni.
1763. Smollett, Trav., xxx. (1766), II. 102. The Xysta, which were shady walks between two porticos.
1823. P. Nicholson, Pract. Builder, 596. Zystos; among the antients, a portico or aile of unusual length, commonly appropriated to gymnastic exercises.
1856. Macaulay, in Trevelyan, Life & Lett., xiv. (1913), II. 405. [I] directed the workmen to set creepers in my xystus.
1871. Farrar, Witn. Hist., vi. 98. Philosophers who aired their elegant doubts in the shady xystis.
