feist

or fist

[ fahyst ]

noun
  1. Also fice, fyce [fahys] /faɪs/ .Chiefly South Midland and Southern U.S. a small mongrel dog, especially one that is ill-tempered; cur; mutt.

verb (used without object)
  1. South Midland U.S. to prance or strut about: Look at him feist around in his new clothes.

Origin of feist

1
First recorded in 1760–70; compare (from 16th century) fisting hound, fisting cur, as contemptuous epithets for any kind of dog (present participle of fist “to break wind,” late Middle English; compare Old English fisting “breaking wind,” Middle Low German vīst, German Fist “fart”); def. 2 is perhaps a back formation from feisty

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use feist in a sentence

  • Fact is, if yer've 'ad to do wiv gas an' water pipes, yer can fyce anyfing.

  • By the way, who's the chap with the black mustache a-stragglin' all over 'is fyce?

  • When Wickens sawr he couldn't escype, he opened his can, took out an eel and slapped it over Boots' fyce.

    Two Knapsacks | John Campbell
  • I down't 'old with sin myself, mind you, but I down't believe in cuttin' off your nose to spite someone else's fyce.

    The Foolish Lovers | St. John G. Ervine
  • This mornin' they was lyin' down flat as your fyce—empty, m'm, every one of 'em.

    Audrey Craven | May Sinclair