Definition of GIST

gist

Plural: gists

Noun

  • The essential point or main substance of a speech or text.
  • the central meaning or theme of a speech or literary work
  • the choicest or most essential or most vital part of some idea or experience
    • "the gist of the prosecutor's argument"
  • The main idea or substance, or the most essential part, of a longer or more complicated matter; the crux, the heart, the pith.
  • The essential ground for action in a lawsuit, without which there is no cause of action; the gravamen.
  • Gossip, rumour; (countable) an instance of this.
  • A sharable snippet of source code, especially on the version controlled pastebin-hosting site GitHub Gist.
  • A stop for lodging or rest in a journey, or the place where this happens; a rest.

Verb

  • To extract and present the main ideas or substance, or the most essential parts of (a document, piece of writing, etc.); to abridge, to summarize.
  • To talk idly; chat; also, to gossip.

Examples

  • I don't wanna belabor my point; I'm sure you get the gist.
  • The gist of his strategy was simple: play short words for quick points.

Origin / Etymology

The noun is derived from Old French gist, a noun use of the third person singular indicative of gesir (“to lie down”) (modern French gésir; compare Anglo-Norman (cest) action gist (literally “(law) (this) action lies”)), from Latin iacēre, the present active infinitive of iaceō (“to lie down, lie prostrate, recline”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(H)yeh₁- (“to throw”) (probably in the sense of something being thrown down).
The verb is derived from the noun.
The programming sense is a genericized trademark of GitHub Gist, introduced 2008.

Synonyms

burden, center, centre, core, effect, essence, heart, heart and soul, inwardness, kernel, marrow, meat, nitty-gritty, nub, pith, substance, sum, bowels, brass tacks, condense, crux, deets, details, drift, gist, gravamen, guts, heartstring, heartstrings, moral of the story, nuts and bolts, précis, punctum saliens, quintessence, soul, spirit, stuff, tenor, thrust

Scrabble Score: 5

gist: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
gist: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
gist: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 6

gist: valid Words With Friends Word