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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Gist \Gist\, noun [OF. giste abode, lodgings, F. g[^i]te, fr. g['e]sir to lie, L. jac?re, prop., to be thrown, hence, to lie, fr. jac?re to throw. In the second sense fr. OF. gist, F. g[^i]t, 3d pers. sing. ind. of g['e]sir to lie, used in a proverb, F., c'est l['a] que g[^i]t le li['e]vre, it is there that the hare lies, i. e., that is the point, the difficulty. See {Jet} a shooting forth, and cf. {Agist}, {Joist}, noun, {Gest} a stage in traveling.]
1. A resting place. [Obs.]
These quails have their set gists; to wit, ordinary resting and baiting places. --Holland.
2. The main point, as of a question; the point on which an action rests; the pith of a matter; as, the gist of a question.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
gist
noun
1: the central meaning or theme of a speech or literary work [syn: {effect}, {essence}, {burden}, {core}]
2: the choicest or most essential or most vital part of some idea or experience; "the gist of the prosecutor's argument"; "the heart and soul of the Republican Party"; "the nub of the story" [syn: {kernel}, {substance}, {core}, {center}, {essence}, {heart}, {heart and soul}, {inwardness}, {marrow}, {meat}, {nub}, {pith}, {sum}, {nitty-gritty}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
160 Moby Thesaurus words for "gist": affective meaning, axiom, basis, bearing, bench mark, best part, better part, body, bulk, burden, cardinal point, case, center, chapter, chief thing, climax, coloring, concern, connotation, consequence, core, cornerstone, crisis, critical point, crux, denotation, direction, distillate, distillation, drift, effect, elixir, essence, essential, essential matter, extension, fabric, flower, focus, focus of attention, focus of interest, force, fundamental, generality, grammatical meaning, gravamen, great point, head, heading, heart, high point, hypostasis, idea, impact, implication, import, important thing, inner essence, intension, issue, kernel, keystone, landmark, lexical meaning, literal meaning, living issue, main body, main idea, main point, main thing, major part, majority, marrow, mass, material, material point, matter, matter in hand, meaning, meat, medium, milestone, most, motif, motive, nub, nucleus, nuts and bolts, overtone, pertinence, pith, pivot, plurality, point, point at issue, point in question, postulate, practical consequence, principle, problem, purport, question, quid, quiddity, quintessence, range of meaning, real issue, real meaning, recap, recapitulation, reference, referent, relation, relevance, resume, rubric, run-through, rundown, salient point, sap, scope, semantic cluster, semantic field, sense, short, significance, signification, significatum, signifie, sine qua non, soul, span of meaning, spirit, structural meaning, stuff, subject, subject matter, subject of thought, substance, substantive point, sum, sum and substance, summary, summation, symbolic meaning, tenor, text, the bottom line, the nitty-gritty, the point, theme, thrust, topic, totality of associations, transferred meaning, turning point, unadorned meaning, undertone, upshot, value
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