Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Whist
Whist
,int
erj.
Be silent; be still; hush; silence.
Whist
,Noun.
[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, the hand is finished, and the cards are again shuffled and distributed.
☞ 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
,Verb.
I.
To be or become silent or still; to be hushed or mute.
[R.]
Surrey.
Whist
,Adj.
[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
Smoothly the waters kissed.
whist
,Smoothly the waters kissed.
Milton.
☞ This adjective generally follows its noun, or is used predicatively.
Webster 1828 Edition
Whist
WHIST
,Adj.
The winds with wonder whist, smoothly the waters kissd.
[This adjective, like some others, always follows its noun. We never say, whist wind; but the wind is whist.]
Whist is used for be silent. Whist, whist, that is, be silent or still.
WHIST
,Noun.
Definition 2024
whist
whist
English
Noun
whist (plural whists)
- Any of several four-player card games, similar to bridge.
- Sessions of playing the card game.
Derived terms
- German whist
- Russian Whist
- solo whist
Translations
card game
See also
-
whist in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.
Adjective
whist (comparative more whist, superlative most whist)
- (rare) Silent.
Verb
whist (third-person singular simple present whists, present participle whisting, simple past and past participle whisted)
- (transitive, rare) To hush or silence; to still.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Spenser to this entry?)
- (intransitive, rare) To become silent.
-
1623, William Shakespeare, The Tempest:
- 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.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Surrey to this entry?)
-
1623, William Shakespeare, The Tempest:
Interjection
whist
- Alternative spelling of whisht Silence! Quiet! Hush! Shhh!