whistAudio Help (hwĭst, wĭst) Pronunciation Key
n.
A card game ancestral to bridge, played with a full deck by two teams of two players, in which the last card dealt indicates trump, tricks of four cards are played, and a point is scored for each trick over six won by each team.
[Alteration (perhaps influenced by the exclamation whist, silence!) of obsolete and dialectal whisk, perhaps from whisk.]
card game, 1663, alteration of whisk "kind of card game," alluded to as early as 1529, perhaps so called from the notion of "whisking" up cards after each trick; altered perhaps from assumption that it was an interjection invoking silence, from whist "silent" (M.E.).
a card game for four players who form two partnerships; a pack of 52 cards is dealt and each side scores one point for each trick it takes in excess of six
Whist\, n. Bridge whist. See Bridge, n., above. Duplicate whist, a form of whist in playing which the hands are preserved as dealt and played again by other players, as when each side holds in the second round the cards played by the opposing side in the first round. Solo whist. See Solo whist, above. Whitecap \White"cap`\, n. A member of a self-appointed vigilance committee attempting by lynch-law methods to drive away or coerce persons obnoxious to it. Some early ones wore white hoods or masks. [U. S.] -- White"cap`, v. -- White"cap`per, n.
Pro*gress"ive\, a. [Cf. F. progressif.]1. Moving forward; proceeding onward; advancing; evincing progress; increasing; as, progressive motion or course; -- opposed to retrograde. 2. Improving; as, art is in a progressive state. Progressive euchre or whist, a way of playing at card parties, by which after every game, the losers at the first table go to the last table, and the winners at all the tables, except the first, move up to the next table. Progressive muscular atrophy (Med.), a nervous disorder characterized by continuous atrophy of the muscles. -- Pro*gress"ive*ly, adv. -- Pro*gress"ive*ness, n.
Whist\, n. [From Whist, interj.] A certain game at cards; -- so called because it requires silence and close attention. It is played by four persons (those who sit opposite each other being partners) with a complete pack of fifty-two cards. Each player has thirteen cards, and when these are played out, he hand is finished, and the cards are again shuffled and distributed. Note: Points are scored for the tricks taken in excess of six, and for the honors held. In long whist, now seldom played, ten points make the game; in short whist, now usually played in England, five points make the game. In American whist, so-called, honors are not counted, and seven points by tricks make the game.
Whist\, n. [From Whist, interj.] A certain game at cards; -- so called because it requires silence and close attention. It is played by four persons (those who sit opposite each other being partners) with a complete pack of fifty-two cards. Each player has thirteen cards, and when these are played out, he hand is finished, and the cards are again shuffled and distributed. Note: Points are scored for the tricks taken in excess of six, and for the honors held. In long whist, now seldom played, ten points make the game; in short whist, now usually played in England, five points make the game. In American whist, so-called, honors are not counted, and seven points by tricks make the game.
Whist\, a. [Properly p. p. of whist, v.] Not speaking; not making a noise; silent; mute; still; quiet. "So whist and dead a silence." --Sir J. Harrington. The winds, with wonder whist, Smoothly the waters kissed. --Milton. Note: This adjective generally follows its noun, or is used predicatively.
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Audio Help [hwist, wist] Pronunciation Key 
