gesturen.
/ˈdʒɛstjʊə/ a. Manner of carrying the body; bearing, carriage, deportment (more fully, gesture of the body); rarely in plural. Obsolete (merged in sense 3).
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > posture > [noun] > manner of carrying body
bearinga1325
gesturec1410
gest1509
shapea1577
sitting1583
carriage1595
comportment1605
deportment1638
poise1771
set-up1889
tenue1892
c1410 Sir Cleges 483 He was a knyght of yours full trewe, And comly of gesture.
1509 J. Fisher Mornynge Remembraunce Countesse of Rychemonde (de Worde) sig. Aiii In wordes, in gesture, in euery demeanour of herself so grete noblenes dyde appere, yt[etc.].
1549 Bk. Common Prayer (STC 16267) Publyke Baptisme f. iii* By his outwarde gesture and dede, he declared his good wyll towarde them.
1558 T. Becon Pomander of Prayer 58 That I mai reuerence and honour my father & mother, not only with outward gestures of my bodi, but also with the vnfayned affection of the hart.
1577 H. I. tr. H. Bullinger 50 Godlie Serm. I. ii. v. sig. K.viijv/2 To behaue him self decently in his going, and gesture of his body.
1587 G. Turberville Tragicall Tales f. 64v Hee vsde his gestures so vnto this gallant dame..that she at length his friend in loue, became.
a1616 W. Shakespeare As you like It (1623) v. ii. 60 If you do loue Rosalinde so neere the hart, as your gesture cries it out. View more context for this quotation
1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan ii. xxix. 168 In gesture and habit of a mad-man.
1757 E. Burke Philos. Enq. Sublime & Beautiful i. §3. 7 The fashion of the countenance and the gesture of the body on such occasions is so correspondent to this state of mind.
1770 ‘Junius’ Stat Nominis Umbra (1772) II. xxxviii. 84 [He] had a voice to persuade, an eye to penetrate, a gesture to command.
1783 W. Thomson in R. Watson & W. Thomson Hist. Reign Philip III v. 385 The voice, the looks, and gestures of the young king, made an impression.
1810 W. Scott Lady of Lake i. 27 Yet seemed that tone, and gesture bland, Less used to sue than to command.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > good behaviour > [noun] > good manners or polite behaviour > polish or refinement of manners
urbanityc1475
policya1522
gesture1580
politure1593
polishedness1594
facetiousness1644
politeness1655
politesse1683
refinement1704
refinedness1711
polish1713
tournure1748
smoothness1832
1580 J. Lyly Euphues (new ed.) f. 11v Least he should seeme to want gestures, or to be dashed out of conceit with hir coye countenaunce.
1704 R. Steele Lying Lover iii. 32 I have a kindness for her, but she has no Gesture in the least.
a. Manner of placing the body; position, posture, attitude, esp. in acts of prayer or worship. Also, a specified posture. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > posture > [noun]
standing1540
gesture?1548
site1573
posture1605
positure1621
figure1658
pose1818
body mechanics1922
?1548 tr. J. Calvin Faythfvl Treat. Sacrament sig. Cvijv The olde congregacion..did in theyr gesture & ricte figurate a certaine ymage of a sacrifice.
1564 T. Becon New Catech. in Wks. 480 As concerning syttyng at the Lordes table..I could alowe that gesture best.
1581 J. Marbeck Bk. Notes & Common Places 852 Some foolishly imagine that praier is made either better or worse, by the jesture of our bodyes.
1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 154 What position of body hee was in the Sabbath morning, in the same hee ought to continue all that day, without change of gesture or place.
1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica v. vi. 241 As for their gesture or position, the men lay downe leaning on their left elbow. View more context for this quotation
1676 W. Allen Serious & Friendly Addr. Non-conformists 178 Gesture in Prayer, such as is kneeling, lifting up hands and eyes, and the like.
1703 W. Burkitt Expos. Notes New Test. Mark iv. 2 Our Saviour's Gesture in preaching, he sat, it being the Custom of the Jewish Church so to do.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > a part of speech > verb > [noun] > other specific types of verb
vocative verbc1414
activec1450
passivec1450
substantive verba1475
neuter1530
gesture1612
nominal1666
quiescent1720
reduplicative1756
dative verb1844
factitive1845
preterite-present1859
compound verb1863
pro-verb1868
preterito-presentia1870
preteritive present1872
action verb1877
verbid1914
inversive1931
eventive1946
hypothetical1957
non-factive1970
commonization1973
contrafactive1985
1612 J. Brinsley Posing of Parts f. 36 Which call you Verbes of Gesture? A. Verbes of bodily mouing, going, resting, or doing.
1665 J. Brinsley Posing of Parts (rev. ed.) 72 They are called verbs of Gesture, because they signifie some special gesture of the body.
3. †(a) In early use: the employment of bodily movements, attitudes, expression of countenance, etc., as a means of giving effect to oratory. Obsolete. (b) Now in narrower sense, as a generalized use of sense 4a: movement of the body or limbs as an expression of feeling.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > indication > gesturing or gesture > [noun]
beckoningc1380
wevingc1440
gesturing1542
gesture1545
gesture1551
becking1569
gesturement1597
gesticulation1603
air1714
the mind > language > speech > speech-making > rhetoric > [noun] > gesture used in
gesture1545
1545 R. Ascham Toxophilus i. f. 20v No man can wryte a thing so earnestlye, as whan it is spoken wyth iesture.
1553 T. Wilson Arte of Rhetorique 118 Gesture is a certaine comely moderacion of the countenaunce and al other partes of mans body, aptely agreeyng to those thynges whiche are spoken.
1597 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie v. xxii. 47 To put life into words by countenance, voice and gesture.
1612 F. Bacon Ess. (new ed.) 121 Some helpe themselves with countenance and gesture, and are wise by signes.
1697 J. Evelyn Numismata ix. 303 The Tongue spake to Mens Ears, but it was the Gesture which spake to their Eyes.
1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 407. ¶1 Our Orators are observed to make use of less Gesture or Action than those of other Countries.
1791 J. Boswell Life Johnson anno 1758 I. 182 His unqualified ridicule of rhetorical gesture or action.
1804 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 12 510 She seized the ice, and rubbed her face, neck, and arms with it, signifying by gesture the ease it afforded.
1875 B. Jowett in tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) V. 106 Gesture is the imitation of words.
4.
a. A movement of the body or any part of it. Now only in restricted sense: a movement expressive of thought or feeling.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > bodily movement > [noun] > a bodily movement
motiona1398
gesta1521
gesture1551
motioning1843
society > communication > indication > gesturing or gesture > [noun]
beckoningc1380
wevingc1440
gesturing1542
gesture1545
gesture1551
becking1569
gesturement1597
gesticulation1603
air1714
1551 R. Robinson tr. T. More Vtopia ii. sig. Pvii Theire armoure or harneis..is..handsome for all mouinges and gestures of the bodye.
1555 R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde i. vi. f. 31 They signified also by certeyne scorneful giestures..that they nothyng esteemed perles.
1583 C. Hollyband Campo di Fior 115 I shall name these letters. Looke well what gesture I make with my mouth.
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 325 That at certain signes and tokens, he [sc. a horse] be taught of his owne accord to performe diuers and sundry iestures.
1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §717 The Shaking of the Head..is a Gesture of slight refusal.
1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 220 An Oration, intermixt with more Faces and Gestures than any Player can shew on the stage.
1717 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. 17 May (1965) I. 357 2 Buffoons..diverted the Mob with their Antick Gestures.
1815 W. Scott Lord of Isles iii. xxxi. 121 His speechless gesture thanks hath paid.
1843 W. H. Prescott Hist. Conquest Mexico I. ii. v. 295 The natives supplied the deficiency..by the uncommon vivacity and significance of their gestures,—the hieroglyphics of speech.
1878 M. A. Brown tr. J. L. Runeberg Nadeschda 62 She took a seat, And with a gesture, motioned her son to his.
b. transferred and figurative; spec. [after French geste ; compare beau geste n.] a move or course of action undertaken as an expression of feeling or as a formality; esp. a demonstration of friendly feeling, usually with the purpose of eliciting a favourable response from another.
ΚΠ
1916 Daily News 2 Feb. 4/4 The cost of museums and galleries ought to be considered as part of the cost of the war... To shut them is a mean and shabby gesture before the whole world.
1921 Times 18 Oct. 10/4 The gift of your Medal of Honour to a British comrade in arms, whose tomb in Westminster Abbey stands for all our best endeavour and hardest sacrifice in the war, is a gesture of friendly sympathy and good will which we will not forget.
1921 Daily News 9 Nov. The hope that Sir James Craig might make a generous gesture.
1921 Daily News 24 Nov. You cannot quite get that gesture from Mr. Balfour.
1922 Daily News 9 Nov. 9 So far as the movement against Prohibition is concerned, the victory of Mr. Edwards, Governor of New Jersey, is only a gesture. As Governor he promised to make the State as wet as the Atlantic.
1922 Daily News 16 Dec. 9 The United States Cabinet to-day sat..to consider a world gesture which is intended..to assist Europe and to allay discontent at home.
1922 Westm. Gaz. 20 Dec. The semi-official gestures of Greece towards a reconciliation with this country.
1933 L. Bloomfield Lang. ix. 147 Vocal gestures, serving an inferior type of communication, occur not only outside of speech, as in an inarticulate outcry, but also in combination with speech-forms.
1959 Listener 8 Oct. 563/2 I do not advocate, instead, an imitation of the gestures of the new ‘Holy Trinity’ of European music: Stockhausen, Boulez, and Nono.
1963 Listener 7 Mar. 418/2 The Lijnbaan..would be a very long, completely straight two-storey street for pedestrians were it not for a single formal gesture which acts like a magic wand, providing canopies across the Lijnbaan as well as along it.
1964 Ann. Reg. 1963 253 France did not sign the test ban treaty, described..as ‘a purely platonic gesture’.
Compounds
C1. General attributive, as gesture language, gesture-sign, gesture-speech, gesture-syntax.
ΚΠ
1865 E. B. Tylor Res. Early Hist. Mankind ii. 15 The Gesture Language, or Language of Signs.
1865 E. B. Tylor Res. Early Hist. Mankind ii. 19 The educated deaf mutes can tell us from their own experience how gesture-signs originate.
1865 E. B. Tylor Res. Early Hist. Mankind iv. 64 The leading principle of the gesture-syntax.
1885 E. Clodd Myths & Dreams ii. ix. 199 A girl who was a deaf-mute as well as blind..telling a dream in gesture language.
1889 St. G. Mivart Origin Human Reason 139 The gesture-speech of mankind.
C2.
gesture theorist n. a proponent of gesture theory.
ΚΠ
1930 R. Paget Babel ii. 62 To the gesture-theorist it is a natural consequence of the fact that every tongue- and lip-gesture can be construed in a variety of ways.
gesture theory n. a theory of the origin of language (see gestural adj.).
ΚΠ
1930 R. Paget Babel ii. 54 The gesture theory of human speech is not new.
Derivatives
ˈgestureless adj. without gesture.
ΚΠ
1847 J. Craig New Universal Dict. Gestureless.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1899; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
gesturev.
/ˈdʒɛstjʊə/ 1.
a. intransitive. To make or use gestures, to gesticulate.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > indication > gesturing or gesture > make gestures [verb (intransitive)]
beckonc950
becka1300
wevec1325
playc1330
to make a countenancea1375
signc1520
token1535
gesture1542
starkle?1544
scrawl1582
gesticulate1609
annuate1623
to make a motion1719
wink1738
motion1788
1542 N. Udall tr. Erasmus Apophthegmes f. 253v Augustus settyng twoo iesters together forto plaie their merie partes in gesturyng the one after the other by course.
1565 J. Calfhill Aunswere Treat. Crosse f. 93v Whosoeuer hath ye vse of eyes or his right wits, wil see & consider, that there is meant, no priest gesturing, but holy ghost working.
1609 R. Bernard Faithfull Shepheard (new ed.) 85 Some in meditating doe vse to speake and gesture.
1837 T. Carlyle French Revol. III. i. vi. 62 The Mayor speaking and gesturing his persuasivest.
1890 Harper's Mag. Feb. 417/1 They peered for white faces at windows..gesturing with knives as if opening fish.
b. Scottish. To walk proudly, to swagger.
ΚΠ
a1783 J. Scott Poems 339 (Jam.) The like o' me they'll har'ly own, But geck their head, and gester on.
2. transitive.† a. To order the attitudes or movements of (the body, oneself). Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > behave or conduct oneself [verb (reflexive)]
wieldOE
leadc1175
bear?c1225
steera1250
to take onc1275
contain1297
to shift one's handa1300
demeanc1320
guyc1325
govern1340
keep1362
havec1390
rulec1390
guide14..
conceivea1425
maintain?a1425
maynea1425
behavec1440
disporta1450
orderc1487
use1497
handle?1529
convey1530
gesture1542
treat1568
carry1584
deport1598
bestow1606
comport1616
mienc1680
conduct1706
1542 [see sense 1a].
a1639 H. Wotton View Life & Death Duke of Buckingham in Reliquiæ Wottonianæ (1651) 110 His young Nephew, Lord Viscount Fielding..undertaking so to gesture and muffle up himself in his hood, as the Duke's manner was to ride in cold weather, that none should discern him, from him.
b. To express by gestures; †to accompany with or emphasize by gestures.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > indication > gesturing or gesture > make gestures [verb (transitive)] > express or accompany by gesture
signc1520
gesture1589
gesticulate1616
beck1821
language1824
flicker1903
physicalize1947
1589 T. Nashe Anat. Absurditie sig. Eiiv They haue leisure to gesture the mislike of his rudenes.
1597 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie v. xxvii. 57 It is not orderly read nor gestured as beseemeth.
1607 R. Parker Scholasticall Disc. against Antichrist ii. x. 141 The player hath no purpose to commit the acte of adulterie: his sinne is in that he gestureth and expresseth the dalliances of it.
1890 Pall Mall Gaz. 12 Apr. 7/2 He..gestured his intention of throwing the baby to the ground if anybody attempted to approach him.
c. in nonce-uses.
ΚΠ
1879 G. Meredith Egoist III. x. 221 He swept his arm to Vernon, and gestured a conducting hand to Clara.
1885 W. D. Howells Rise Silas Lapham xi. 197 His father made an offer to rise. ‘Don't go’, said Lapham, gesturing him down again.
Derivatives
ˈgestured adj. expressed by gestures.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > indication > gesturing or gesture > [adjective] > expressed or accompanied by gesture
gested1587
nutual1607
gesticulated1623
gestured1879
1879 W. L. Lindsay Mind in Lower Animals I. 355 Not only does it [the dog] understand man's gestured threat, but [etc.].
ˈgesturing n. and adj.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > indication > gesturing or gesture > [noun]
beckoningc1380
wevingc1440
gesturing1542
gesture1545
gesture1551
becking1569
gesturement1597
gesticulation1603
air1714
society > communication > indication > gesturing or gesture > [adjective] > gesturing
gesturing1542
beckoning1637
gesticulant1877
1542 N. Udall tr. Erasmus Apophthegmes f. 344 Ye accion or pronunciacion comprehendeth..the gesturyng or conueighaunce of all the whole bodye.
1553 T. Wilson Arte of Rhetorique 3 We must..folowe the moste wise and learned menne, and seke to fashion..their speache and gesturyng.
1561 T. Norton tr. J. Calvin Inst. Christian Relig. (1634) iv. xviii. 713 There is eachwhere too much of pompes, ceremonies and gesturings.
1609 P. Holland tr. Ammianus Marcellinus Rom. Hist. xiv. vi, 13 No meane furniture for gesturing actors and stage players.
1644 J. Bulwer Chirologia 114 This doth usually appeare in many in the gesturing and skipping motions of joy.
1651 J. F. tr. H. C. Agrippa Three Bks. Occult Philos. ii. xiv. 226 By whose gesturings the Magicians did silently signifie words unknown by sound.
ˈgesturer n. one who gestures.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > indication > gesturing or gesture > [noun] > person who
gesturer1576
gesticulator1693
1576 T. Newton tr. L. Lemnie Touchstone of Complexions ii. ii. 101 Counterfaiters, Skoffers, Tumblers, and Gesturers.
1889 Amer. Ann. Deaf July 202 When the educated gesturer is compared with the deaf-mute as he was before the invention of the gesture language.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1899; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.c1410
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