whist

plural whists

1. countableuncountableAny of several four-player card games, similar to bridge.

   1 more example

   "We have a loo in College every night-of course that is not every night, but most nights-not a big loo at all, you know, but just a small party of our own. I would almost rather we played whist myself, but the other fellows don't like whist, it's too awfully scientific; and at loo, you know, you can have a bit of a flutter. It helps to pass the time after Hall."

   1900, W.E.W. Collins, A Scholar of His College, volume 900, page 151

2. countableuncountableA session of playing this card game.

1. alternativeAlternative spelling of whisht. Silence!, quiet!, hush!, shhh!, shush!

   … for scarcely had they descended one hundred feet, when a low “whist” from the girl, warned them of present danger.

   1860, anonymous author, Heroes and Hunters of the West, HTML edition, The Gutenberg Project, published 2008

2. Onomatopoeia for slicing.

   Well! she laid down her little golden head without fear; and whist! down came the axe, and it was off. So the mother wiped the axe and laughed.

   1890, Joseph Jacobs, “The Rose-Tree”, in English Fairy Tales, page 16

present singular third person whists · participle present whisting · participle past whisted · past whisted

1. raretransitiveTo hush or shush; to still.

   o was the Titaness put downe and whist

   1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

2. intransitiverareTo become silent.

   The fields whist, beasts, and fowls of divers bue

   1557 July 1, Virgil, “The Fowrth Boke of Virgiles Aenæis”, in Henry [Howard, Earl] of Surrey, transl., edited by William Bolland, Certain Bokes of Virgiles Aenaeis, Turned into English Meter ([Roxburghe Club Publications; I]), London: […] A[braham] J[ohn] Valpy, […], published 1814, →OCLC

comparative more whist · superlative most whist

1. rareSilent, hushed.

   Come unto these yellow sands, / And then take hands: / Courtsied when you have and kiss'd / The wild waves whist, / Foot it featly here and there; / And, sweet sprites, the burthen bear.[…]

   1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]