English

A depiction of a cestus (fighting glove)

Noun

cestus ‎(plural cestuses or cestus or cesti)

1. A leather fighting glove, frequently weighted with metal.
   • 1994 August, Carl Brown, Nunchucks and Throwing Stars in Your State? A State-byState Survey of Martial Arts Weapons Laws, Black Belt, page 81,

     It is against Massachusetts law to carry on your person or in a vehicle any stiletto, dagger, ballistic knife, dirk knife, doubl-edged knife, switchblade knife, slungshot, blowgun, blackjack, metallic knuckles, nunchaku (also referred to as “klackers” or “kung fu sticks” in Massachusetts law), shuriken or similar pointed star-like objects intended to injure a person when thrown, armband with metallic spikes, points or studs, cestus weighted with metal or other substance and worn on the hand, manriki gusari or similar length of chain with weighted ends, or billy club.

   • 2011, James Edward Raggi, IV, Lamentations of the Flame Princess: Weird Fantasy Role-Playing (Grindhouse Edition), Rules Book, ISBN 9525904288, page 25:

     'Cestus': This includes all sorts of fist wrappings and brass knuckle weapon types.

Etymology 2

From Latin cestus.

Noun

cestus ‎(plural cesti)

1. (obsolete) A girdle, especially that of Aphrodite (or Venus) which gave the wearer the power to excite love.

See also

• Juno Receiving the Cestus from Venus by Joshua Reynolds on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Latin

Etymology 1

From Ancient Greek κεστός ‎(kestós, “stitched, embroidered”)

Noun

cestus m ‎(genitive cestī); second declension

1. a girdle, tie, band or strap worn around the upper body, directly under the breast
2. the girdle of Aphrodite or Venus

Inflection

Second declension.

Etymology 2

Variant of caestus, from caedō ‎(“I cut in pieces”)

Noun

cestus m ‎(genitive cestūs); fourth declension

1. boxing glove; a strip of leather, weighted with iron or lead, tied to a boxer's hands

Inflection

Fourth declension.

References

• cestus in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• CESTUS in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “cestus”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.
• cestus in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• cestus in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin