Forms: 5 fyyst, 5–7, 9 fiste, 6–7 fiest, fyest, fyst(e, 9 Sc. feist, 7, 9 fist. Also FOIST. [First appears in 15th c., though OE. has the vbl. sb. físting (see under FIST v.2). The various WGer. langs. have synonymous words representing the three ablaut-types faist-, fîst-, fist-: MDu. veest, mod.Du. vijst, MLG. vîst, mod.HG. fist. Cf. ON. físa (Da. fise) to break wind, and see FISE sb.
A view widely held is that OTeut. *fisti- is f. *fest:—OAryan *pezd- whence L. pēdere, Gr. βδἐω (from bzd-), Lith. bezdyti, and that the root fīs was evolved from this; but the hypothesis does not clearly account for the facts.]
† 1. A breaking wind, a foul smell, stink. Obs.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 163/1. Fyyst, stynk, lirida.
1511. Demaundes joyous, in Kemble, Salomon (1848), 288. It is fartes and fyestes, for who that drynketh a hondreth thousande they shall never pysse a droppe.
a. 1529. Skelton, Elynour Rummyng, 343.
| Jone sayne she had eaten a fyest; | |
| By Christ, sayde she, thou lyest, | |
| I haue as swete a breth | |
| As thou, wyth shamfull deth! |
1605. Jonson, etc., Eastward Hoe, IV. F iv b. Gir. Marry, fyste o’ your kindnesse! I thought as much.
1611. Cotgr., Secrette … a fiste.
1664. Cotton, Scarron., 44.
| With that he whistled out most mainly, | |
| You might have heard his Fist as plainly, | |
| From one Side of the Sky to th’ other. |
† 2. The fungus usually known as puff-ball (Lycoperdon bovista). Also called BULLFIST, PUCKFIST (see those words) and Wolves’ fist. Obs.
1597. Gerard, Herball, III. clxii. 1386. Puffe Fistes are commonly called in Latine Lupi crepitus or Woolfes Fistes.
1611. Cotgr., Vesse de loup, the dustie or smoakie Toadstole called … Bull fyste, Puffyst, wolues fyste.
3. U.S. dial. A small dog. Cf. fisting-hound.
1860. Bartlett, Dictionary of Americanisms, Fiste (i as in mice).
4. Comb., fist-ball = FUZZ-BALL, PUFF-BALL.
1635. Herrick, Kinge Obrons Feast, Poems (1869), 471.
| A little fust-ball [1648, Hesper., 137 Fuz-ball] pudding standes | |
| By; yett not blessed with his handes. |
1640. Parkinson, Theat. Bot., XIV. lxiv. 1324. The Fusse balls or rather Foist or Fist balls.
