different between principle vs gist

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French principe, from Latin pr?ncipium (“beginning, foundation”), from pr?nceps (“first”); see prince.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p??ns?p?l/, /?p??ns?p?l/
• Hyphenation: prin?ci?ple
• Homophone: principal

Noun

principle (plural principles)

1. A fundamental assumption or guiding belief.

   • Let us consider ‘my dog is asleep on the floor’ again. Frege thinks that this sentence can be analyzed in various different ways. Instead of treating it as expressing the application of __ is asleep on the floor to my dog, we can think of it as expressing the application of the concept
          my dog is asleep on __
     to the object
          the floor
     (see Frege 1919). Frege recognizes what is now a commonplace in the logical analysis of natural language. We can attribute more than one logical form to a single sentence. Let us call this the principle of multiple analyses. Frege does not claim that the principle always holds, but as we shall see, modern type theory does claim this.

2. A rule used to choose among solutions to a problem.

3. (sometimes pluralized) Moral rule or aspect.

   I don't doubt your principles.

   You are clearly a person of principle.

   It's the principle of the thing; I won't do business with someone I can't trust.

4. (physics) A rule or law of nature, or the basic idea on how the laws of nature are applied.

   Bernoulli's Principle

   The Pauli Exclusion Principle prevents two fermions from occupying the same state.

   The principle of the internal combustion engine

5. A fundamental essence, particularly one producing a given quality.
   • 1845, William Gregory, Outlines of Chemistry

     Cathartine is the bitter, purgative principle of senna.

6. (obsolete) A beginning.
7. A source, or origin; that from which anything proceeds; fundamental substance or energy; primordial substance; ultimate element, or cause.
   • 1663, John Tillotson, The Wisdom of Being Religious

     The soul of man is an active principle.

8. An original faculty or endowment.
   • 1828, Dugal Stewart, The Philosophy of the Active and Moral Powers of Man

     those active principles whose direct and ultimate object is the communication either of enjoyment or suffering

Usage notes

• Principle ("moral rule"), as a noun, is often confused with principal, which can be an adjective ("most important") or a noun ("school principal"). A memory aid to avoid this confusion is: "The principal alphabetic principle places A before E".

Synonyms

• (moral rule or aspect): tenet

Derived terms

Related terms

• prince
• principal
• principality

Translations

Verb

principle (third-person singular simple present principles, present participle principling, simple past and past participle principled)

1. (transitive) To equip with principles; to establish, or fix, in certain principles; to impress with any tenet or rule of conduct.

   • Let an enthusiast be principled that he or his teacher is inspired.

Further reading

• principle in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• principle in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

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