leister
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈliːstə/
ipa: /ˈlistɚ/
rhymes: -iːstə(ɹ)
Forms: form: leisters
form: lister
Etymology: From earlier leyster, lister, perhaps via Middle English *lēster, *līster, from Old Norse ljóstr (“leister”), from ljósta (“to smite, strike; to hit, strike (with an arrow or spear)”), from Proto-Germanic *leustaną (“to hit, strike”), from Proto-Indo-European *lew-s- (“to loosen (by knocking)”); the word is cognate with Danish lyster (“fish spear, gig, leister”), Icelandic ljósta (“to hit, strike”), Norwegian Bokmål lyster (dialectal Norwegian lioster), Swedish ljuster.
Senses: examples: text: The methods of catching the ſalmon in this pariſh are ſimilar to thoſe deſcribed in the ſtatiſtical account of Dornock, p. 15. excepting that there is no raiſe-net fiſhing, and that the leiſter is only about 10 or 12 feet long, conſequently better calculated for throwing to any diſtance.
ref: 1792, William Wright, “Number XII. Parish of Newabbey. (Stewartry of Kirkcudbright.)”, in John Sinclair, The Statistical Account of Scotland. […], volume II, Edinburgh: Printed and sold by William Creech; [et al.], →OCLC, footnote, pages 132–133:
text: Rob Runchy, as a forlorn hope, once threw his clodding leister at a drowning man floating down the Yarrow in a high flood, and hauled him out with the lyams unharmed.
ref: 1843, William Scrope, chapter IX, in Days and Nights of Salmon Fishing in the Tweed; […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, pages 199–200:
text: Andy, who had been a moment behind getting his leister out of the fish he had killed, came up, and both he and Jock made several random strokes, when Jock, in his eagerness, slipped his foot, and fell headforemost into the water, the leister flying from his hand just as I caught sight of the fish they were after, lying close in to the bank; […]
ref: 1850, “Agricola” [pseudonym], “‘Burning the Water’—A Tweedside Sketch”, in The New Sporting Magazine, volume 116, London: Published at the office, 34, Norfolk Street, Strand, →OCLC, page 57:
text: Old Sandy fished down the river, but he could kill no more salmon that night, […] He missed one; wounded another on the tail; and struck a third on the rigback, where no leister can pierce a fish, till he made him spring above water.
ref: 1865, “the Ettrick Shepherd” [pseudonym; James Hogg], Thomas Thomson, “The Siege of Roxburgh”, in The Works of the Ettrick Shepherd. […], new edition, volume I, London; Glasgow; Edinburgh: Blackie & Son, […], →OCLC, chapter VII, page 632, column 1:
text: The leister is a spear composed of four or more barbed prongs, something like the manure fork or graip of the agriculturist, and firmly fixed to a light straight pole about twelve or fourteen feet in length. […] The leisterer looks into the river to find a fish, he spears it if he can and must keep it from wriggling off his leister after it is pierced.
ref: 1878 April 26, “a special correspondent” [pseudonym], “River Poaching on the Borders.—No. IV.”, in The Fishing Gazette, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, →OCLC, page 194, column 1:
text: Although leisters and harpoons cannot be called the most important implement in the fishing economy of the North American Indians, they are probably of more value as evidence of culture-historical movements than most of the other fishing artifacts, and for two reasons.
ref: 1952, University of California Publications in Geography, volume 9, Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 108:
text: The shaft parts taper slightly upwards, have rounded outer surfaces and flat or slightly concave inner surfaces which are adapted to the shape of the leister pole.
ref: 2004, Jørgen Skaarup, “Artefacts”, in Jørgen Skaarup, Ole Grøn, translated by Anne Bloch Jøorgensen and David Earle Robinson, Møllegabet II: A Submerged Mesolithic Settlement in Southern Denmark (BAR International Series; 1328), Oxford: Archaeopress, →ISBN, archived from the original on 20 Dec 2018, section V.a.4.2 (Leister Prongs), page 88, column 2:
text: These Aborigines possessed the entire Tasmanian toolkit plus hundreds of additional specialized tools, including a fine array of bone tools, leisters, spear throwers, boomerangs, mounted adzes (for wood working), many multipart tools, a variety of nets for birds, fish, and wallabies, sewn-bark canoes with paddles, string bags, ground-edge axes, and wooden bowls for drinking.
ref: 2016, Joseph Henrich, chapter 12, in The Secret of Our Success […] , Princeton: Princeton University Press, →ISBN:
topics: fishing
hobbies
lifestyle
synonyms: word: waster
glosses: A spear armed with three or more barbed prongs for catching fish, particularly salmon.
Hypernyms: gig
Derived terms: clodding leister
Related terms: trident
kakivak