Word.ws English Dictionary

cestus

/ˈsɛstəs/

cestus noun: a leather fighting glove, frequently weighted with metal.

cestus: a leather fighting glove, frequently weighted with metal
Image: Pearson Scott Foresman, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

cestus (plural cestuses or cestus or cesti)

  1. A leather fighting glove, frequently weighted with metal.
    • It is against Massachusetts law to carry on your person or in a vehicle any stiletto, dagger, ballistic knife, dirk knife, doubl-edged knife, switchblade knife, slungshot, blowgun, blackjack, metallic knuckles, nunchaku (also referred to as “klackers” or “kung fu sticks” in Massachusetts law)...1994 August, Carl Brown, “Nunchucks and Throwing Stars in Your State? A State-byState Survey of Martial Arts Weapons Laws”, in Black Belt, page 81
    • 'Cestus': This includes all sorts of fist wrappings and brass knuckle weapon types.2011, James Edward Raggi, IV, Lamentations of the Flame Princess: Weird Fantasy Role-Playing (Grindhouse Edition): Rules Book, →ISBN, page 25

Noun (2)

cestus (plural cesti)

  1. (obsolete) A girdle, especially that of Aphrodite (or Venus) which gave the wearer the power to excite love.
    • With pasture slopes, and flocks just visible;
      Then, further still, soft wavy wastes of forest,
      In all the varied tints of sylvan verdure,
      Descending to the plain; then, wide and boundless,
      The plain itself, with towns and cultured tracts,
      And its fair river gleaming in the light,
      With all its...1826, Joanna Baillie, The Martyr, act 2

Forms of cestus

pluralcestuses
pluralcestus
pluralcesti

Origin of cestus

From Latin caestus.

From Latin cestus.

Questions about cestus

What does cestus mean?
Cestus means a leather fighting glove, frequently weighted with metal.
What part of speech is cestus?
Cestus is a noun.
How do you pronounce cestus?
Cestus is pronounced /ˈsɛstəs/.
What is the plural of cestus?
The plural of cestus is cestuses.

Words near cestus in the dictionary

  1. cestuies
  2. cestuies que trust
  3. cestuis
  4. cestuis que trust
  5. cestuis que use
  6. cestus
  7. cestuses
  8. cestuy
  9. cestuy que trust
  10. cestuy que use
  11. cestuys

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cestus (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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