misgesture

present singular third person misgestures · participle present misgesturing · participle past misgestured · past misgestured

1. To make the wrong gesture.

   Anyone who misspeaks or misgestures, while trying to maintain a reasonably fast pace, is out of this portion of the exercise.

   2014, Jill H. Rathus, Alec L. Miller, DBT® Skills Manual for Adolescents, page 117

   3 more examples

   This flesh of ours is not a good feruant, vnlesse it helpe vs in the best offices: The God of Spirits doth most respect the soule of our deuotion; yet, it is both vnmannerly and irreligious, to be misgestured in our Prayers.

   1621, Joseph Hall, Meditations and Vowes Divine and Morall, page 824

   He emphasizes as evidence the fact that people sometimes misspeak with a correct gesture, but very rarely misgesture with correct speech.

   2008, John Clement, Creative Model Construction in Scientists and Students, page 195

   Touch here? Stroke there? Stop here? Do it again? The impressive fragility of the device only reinforces this sense — to do it wrong by dropping or misgesturing might lead to unknown consequences.

   2015, Ian Bogost, The Geek's Chihuahua: Living with Apple

plural misgestures

1. A gesture that is made in error.

   From Faisal's perspective, a more dramatic “misgesture” on the part of the Americans was needed before the oil weapon would be employed.

   1977, Mohammed Mughisuddin, Conflict and Cooperation in the Persian Gulf, page 52

   1 more example

   He understood that if she was as bad as the instructors and professors on the committee claimed, then there were a hundred misturns, missteps and misgestures she would have made that she did not.

   2013, Steve Erickson, Tours of the Black Clock