different between matter vs gist

English

Etymology

From Middle English matere, mater, from Anglo-Norman matere, materie, from Old French materie, matiere, from Latin materia (“matter, stuff, material”), derivative of Latin mater (“mother”). Doublet of Madeira.

Displaced native Middle English andweorc, andwork (“material, matter”) (from Old English andweorc (“matter, substance, material”)), Old English intinga (“matter, affair, business”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?mæt?/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?mæt?/, [?mæ??]
  • Homophone: madder
• Rhymes: -æt?(?)
• Hyphenation: mat?ter

Noun

matter (countable and uncountable, plural matters)

1. Substance, material.
   1. (physics) The basic structural component of the universe. Matter usually has mass and volume.
   2. (physics) Matter made up of normal particles, not antiparticles.

      Antonym: antimatter

   3. A kind of substance.

   4. Printed material, especially in books or magazines.

   5. (philosophy) Aristotelian: undeveloped potentiality subject to change and development; formlessness. Matter receives form, and becomes substance.
2. A condition, subject or affair, especially one of concern.
   • 1597, Francis Bacon, Of the Colours of Good and Evil

     if the matter should be tried by duel

   • 12 July 2012, Sam Adams, AV Club Ice Age: Continental Drift

     The matter of whether the world needs a fourth Ice Age movie pales beside the question of why there were three before it, but Continental Drift feels less like an extension of a theatrical franchise than an episode of a middling TV cartoon, lolling around on territory that’s already been settled.

3. An approximate amount or extent.
4. (obsolete) The essence; the pith; the embodiment.
   • 1611, Ben Jonson, Oberon, the Faery Prince

     He is the matter of virtue.

5. (obsolete) Inducing cause or reason, especially of anything disagreeable or distressing.
6. (dated) Pus.

Synonyms

• material
• stuff
• substance

Derived terms

Related terms

• dark matter

Translations

Verb

matter (third-person singular simple present matters, present participle mattering, simple past and past participle mattered)

1. (intransitive) To be important. [from 16th c.]
2. (transitive, in negative constructions, now England regional, Caribbean) To care about, to mind; to find important. [from 17th c.]
   • , Folio Society 1973, p.47:

     Besides, if it had been out of doors I had not mattered it so much; but with my own servant, in my own house, under my own roof […]

   • 1748, Samuel Richardson, Clarissa, Letter 56:

     He matter'd not that, he said; coy maids made the fondest wives […].

3. (intransitive, medicine, archaic) To form pus or matter, as an abscess; to maturate.

   • Each slight sore mattereth.

Derived terms

• it doesn't matter
• no matter (“in spite of”)

Synonyms

• (be important): signify

Translations

French

Verb

matter

1. Alternative spelling of mater

Conjugation

Anagrams

• mettra

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?mat?/

Adjective

matter

1. comparative degree of matt
2. inflection of matt:
   1. strong/mixed nominative masculine singular
   2. strong genitive/dative feminine singular
   3. strong genitive plural

Middle French

Alternative forms

• mater

Verb

matter

1. to checkmate

Conjugation

• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

matter m pl or f pl

1. indefinite plural of matte (Etymology 1)

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

matter f pl

1. indefinite plural of matte (Etymology 1)

English

Etymology

From Old French gist, from the verb gesir (“to lie down”), from Latin iace?. Compare French gésir or gîte (“lodging”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??st/
• Rhymes: -?st

Noun

gist (plural gists)

1. The most essential part; the main idea or substance (of a longer or more complicated matter); the crux of a matter; the pith.
   • 1948, Carl Sandburg, Remembrance Rock, page 103,

     "Should they live and build their church in the American wilderness, their worst dangers would rise in and among themselves rather than outside. That was the gist of the lesson from their pastor and "wellwiller" John Robinson."

   • 1996, Nicky Silver, Etiquette and Vitriol, Theatre Communications Group 1996, p. 10:

     I was really just vomiting images like spoiled sushi (that may be an ill-considered metaphor, but you get my gist).

   • 2003, David McDuff, translating Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment, Penguin 2003 p. 183:

     I don't remember his exact words, but the gist of it was that he wanted it all for nothing, as quickly as possible, without any effort.

2. (law, dated) The essential ground for action in a suit, without which there is no cause of action.
3. (obsolete) Resting place (especially of animals), lodging.
   • 1601, Philemon Holland's translation of Pliny's Natural History, 1st ed., book X, chapter XXIII “Of Swallowes, Ousles, or Merles, Thrushes, Stares or Sterlings, Turtles, and Stockdoves.”, p. 282:

     These Quailes have their set gists, to wit, ordinarie resting and baiting places. [These quails have their set gists, to wit, ordinary resting and baiting places.]

Synonyms

• (most essential part): crux, quintessence; See also Thesaurus:gist
• (essential ground for action): gravamen
• (resting place): lair

Translations

Verb

gist (third-person singular simple present gists, present participle gisting, simple past and past participle gisted)

1. To summarize, to extract and present the most important parts of.
   • 1873, Journal of Proceedings and Addresses of the National Educational Association, session of the year 1872, at Boston, Massachusetts, page 201:

     There are two general ways of getting information, and these two general ways may be summed up in this: take one branch of study and its principles are all gisted, they have been gisted by the accumulated thought of years gone by. These gisted thoughts are axioms, or received principles, […]

Translations

References

• Webster, Noah (1828) , “gist”, in An American Dictionary of the English Language
• “gist” in Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed, 1856.
• gist in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• GTis, ISTG, gits, stig, tigs

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??st/
• Hyphenation: gist
• Rhymes: -?st

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch gest, gist, from Old Dutch *gest, *gist, from Proto-Germanic *jestuz.

Noun

gist f (plural gisten)

1. yeast

Derived terms

• biergist
• gisten
• gistzwam

Descendants

• Afrikaans: gis

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Verb

gist

1. first-, second- and third-person singular present indicative of gisten
2. imperative of gisten

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the main entry.

Verb

gist

1. second- and third-person singular present indicative of gissen
2. (archaic) plural imperative of gissen

Middle English

Noun

gist

1. Alternative form of gest

Old French

Verb

gist

1. third-person singular present indicative of gesir

Romansch

Etymology

From Latin i?stus, j?stus.

Adjective

gist m (feminine singular gista, masculine plural gists, feminine plural gistas)

1. right

Yola

Alternative forms

• jeist

Etymology

From Middle English juste.

Adverb

gist

1. just, just now

References

• Jacob Poole (1867) , William Barnes, editor, A glossary, with some pieces of verse, of the old dialect of the English colony in the baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, J. Russell Smith, ?ISBN