different between reason vs gist

English

Etymology

From Middle English resoun, reson, from Anglo-Norman raisun (Old French raison), from Latin rati?, from ratus, past participle of reor (“reckon”). Doublet of ration and ratio.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??i?z?n/
• Rhymes: -i?z?n
• Hyphenation: rea?son

Noun

reason (countable and uncountable, plural reasons)

1. A cause:
   1. That which causes something: an efficient cause, a proximate cause.
      • 1996, Daniel Clement Dennett, Darwin’s Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life, page 198:

        There is a reason why so many should be symmetrical: The selective advantage in a symmetrical complex is enjoyed by all the subunits […]

   2. A motive for an action or a determination.
      • 1806, Anonymous, Select Notes to Book XXI, in, Alexander Pope, translator, The Odyssey of Homer, volume 6 (London, F.J. du Roveray), page 37:

        This is the reason why he proposes to offer a libation, to atone for the abuse of the day by their diversions.

      • 1881, Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady, chapter 10:

        Ralph Touchett, for reasons best known to himself, had seen fit to say that Gilbert Osmond was not a good fellow […]

   3. An excuse: a thought or a consideration offered in support of a determination or an opinion; that which is offered or accepted as an explanation.
      • 1966, Graham Greene, The Comedians (Penguin Classics edition, ?ISBN, page 14:

        I have forgotten the reason he gave for not travelling by air. I felt sure that it was not the correct reason, and that he suffered from a heart trouble which he kept to himself.

   4. (logic) A premise placed after its conclusion.
2. (uncountable) Rational thinking (or the capacity for it); the cognitive faculties, collectively, of conception, judgment, deduction and intuition.
   • 1970, Hannah Arendt, On Violence ?ISBN, page 62:

     And the specific distinction between man and beast is now, strictly speaking, no longer reason (the lumen naturale of the human animal) but science […]
3. (obsolete) Something reasonable, in accordance with thought; justice.
   • 16th century Edmund Spenser, Lines on his Promised Pension

     I was promised, on a time, To have reason for my rhyme.

4. (mathematics, obsolete) Ratio; proportion.
   • a. 1677, Isaac Barrow, The Usefulness of Mathematical Learning Explained and Demonstrated

     Geometrical Reasons

Synonyms

• (that which causes): cause
• (motive for an action): rationale, motive
• (thought offered in support): excuse

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

reason (third-person singular simple present reasons, present participle reasoning, simple past and past participle reasoned)

1. (intransitive) To deduce or come to a conclusion by being rational
   • 1892, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Speckled Band

     "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from insufficient data. […] "

2. (intransitive) To perform a process of deduction or of induction, in order to convince or to confute; to argue.
3. (intransitive, obsolete) To converse; to compare opinions.
4. (transitive, intransitive) To arrange and present the reasons for or against; to examine or discuss by arguments; to debate or discuss.

   I reasoned the matter with my friend.

   • 1901, Ralph Connor, The Man from Glengarry Chapter 9

     The talk was mainly between Aleck and Murdie, the others crowding eagerly about and putting in a word as they could. Murdie was reasoning good-humoredly, Aleck replying fiercely.

5. (transitive, rare) To support with reasons, as a request.
6. (transitive) To persuade by reasoning or argument.

   to reason one into a belief; to reason one out of his plan

   • 1816, Jane Austen, Emma Volume 2/Chapter 10

     That she was not immediately ready, Emma did suspect to arise from the state of her nerves; she had not yet possessed the instrument long enough to touch it without emotion; she must reason herself into the power of performance; and Emma could not but pity such feelings, whatever their origin, and could not but resolve never to expose them to her neighbour again.

7. (transitive, with down) To overcome or conquer by adducing reasons.

   to reason down a passion

8. (transitive, usually with out) To find by logical process; to explain or justify by reason or argument.

   to reason out the causes of the librations of the moon

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• Roanes, Serano, arseno-, senora, señora

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