gist

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the central or essential meaning of a speech or text

   Just give me the gist of the report before the meeting.

From Anglo-French legal phrase cest action gist ('this action lies'), gist being the third-person singular of Old French gesir ('to lie'), from Latin iacere ('to lie'). The sense shifted from the legal grounds of an action to the essential point.

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