foist

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Pronunciation

• (British, America) IPA: /fɔɪst/

Verb

foist (foists, present participle foisting; past and past participle foisted)

1. (transitive) To introduce or insert surreptitiously or without warrant.
   • 2006 — Theodore Dalrymple, The Gift of Language ↗

     attempts to foist alleged grammatical “correctness” on native speakers of an “incorrect” dialect are nothing but the unacknowledged and oppressive exercise of social control

2. (transitive) To force another to accept especially by stealth or deceit.
3. (transitive) To pass off as genuine or worthy.
   • Jonathan Spivak — foist costly and valueless products on the public

Synonyms

• fob off
• pass off
• pawn off
• palm off

Translations

• French: refourguer
• Russian: подсу́нуть

Translations

• French: imposer
• Italian: sbolognare
• Russian: навяза́ть
• Spanish: endilgar, endosar

Translations

• Italian: sbolognare
• Russian: подсу́нуть

Noun

foist (plural foists)

1. (historical slang) A thief or pickpocket.
   • 1977, Gãmini Salgãdo, The Elizabethan Underworld, Folio Society 2006, p. 54:

     The foist had lately arrived form the country and was known to be doing a thriving trade in and around Westminster Hall where many country folk and others came to see lawyers.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:pickpocket

Noun

foist (plural foists)

1. (obsolete) A light and fast-sailing ship.

   • These are mad boys, I tell you; these are things That will not strike their top-sails to a foist, And let a man of war, an argosy, Hull and cry cockles. (Beaumont and Fletcher, “Philaster”, Act the Fifth, Scene IV)

Noun

foist (plural foists)

1. (obsolete) A cask for wine.
2. Fustiness; mustiness.

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