[a. L. cæstus, commonly regarded as anomalously f. cædĕre to strike; perh. it was an incorrect spelling of cestus girdle, band, ligature: see prec.]
A contrivance consisting of thongs of bull-hide, loaded with strips of iron and lead, and wound round the hands. Used by Roman boxers as a protection and to give greater weight to the blows.
1734. trans. Rollin’s Anc. Hist. (1827), I. 76. The Cestus was a kind of gauntlet, or glove, made of straps of leather, and plated with brass, lead, or iron.
1791. Cowper, Iliad, XXIII. 774. For thou shalt wield The cæstus … never again.
1807. Robinson, Archæol. Græca, III. xx. 323. The hands and arms of the combatants were … surrounded with thongs of leather called cestus.
1870. Bryant, Iliad, II. XXIII. 369. Since thou wilt wield No more the cestus.
