gesture

English

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gesture

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Medieval Latin gestūra (“a mode of action”), from Latin gerō (“to bear; (reflexive) bear oneself, behave, act”), past participle gestus.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒɛs.t͡ʃə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈd͡ʒɛs.t͡ʃɚ/, /ˈd͡ʒɛs.t͡ʃɝ/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛst͡ʃə(ɹ)

Noun

gesture (plural gestures)

1. A motion of the limbs or body, especially one made to emphasize speech.

   The middle-finger gesture is really a nonverbal swear.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     Grace was in all her steps, heaven in her eye, / In every gesture dignity and love.

2. An act or a remark that serves as a formality or as a sign of attitude.

   We took flowers as a gesture of sympathy.

   • 1922, Michael Arlen, “2/4/1”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days‎:

     But, with a gesture, she put a period to this dalliance—one shouldn't palter so on an empty stomach, she might almost have said.

3. (graphical user interface) A motion made with a pointing device, or on a touchscreen, that is recognised by the system as a command.

   This Web browser can be controlled with mouse gestures.

4. (obsolete) The manner of carrying the body; position of the body or limbs; posture.
   • 1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC:

     Accubation, or lying down at meals, was a gesture used by very many nations.

Derived terms

• countergesture
• gesticulate
• gesticulation
• gesticulative
• gestural
• gestureless
• gesturelike
• gesturement
• gesture politics
• gesturer
• rhythmic gesture

Translations

motion of the limbs or body

Afrikaans: gebaar Albanian: gjest (sq) m American Sign Language: FlatB@InsideChesthigh-FlatB@InsideChesthigh CirclesMidline-CirclesMidline Arabic: لَفْتَة f (lafta), إِشَارَة f (ʔišāra) Armenian: շարժում (hy) (šaržum), ժեստ (hy) (žest) Azerbaijani: jest (az) Belarusian: жэст m (žest), целару́х m (cjelarúx) Bengali: ইশারা (bn) (iśara), সংকেত (bn) (śoṅket) Bulgarian: жест (bg) m (žest) Burmese: အမူအရာ (my) (a.mua.ra) Catalan: gest (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 手勢／手势 (zh) (shǒushì), 姿勢／姿势 (zh) (zīshì) Czech: gesto (cs) n Danish: gestus c Dutch: gebaar (nl) n, geste (nl) f (literary) Esperanto: gesto (eo) Estonian: žest Finnish: ele (fi), liike (fi) French: geste (fr) m, signe (fr) Galician: xesto (gl) m, aceno (gl) m, visaxe m Georgian: ჟესტი (žesṭi), მოძრაობა (ka) (moʒraoba) German: Geste (de) f, Gebärde (de) f Greek: χειρονομία (el) f (cheironomía) Hebrew: מחווה \ מֶחֱוָה f (mekhvá) Hindi: इशारा (hi) m (iśārā), संकेत (hi) (saṅket) Hungarian: gesztus (hu), mozdulat (hu) Icelandic: látbragð (is) n Italian: gesto (it) Japanese: ジェスチャー (ja) (jesuchā) Kazakh: ым (ym) Khmer: កាយវិការ (km) (kaayvikaa) Korean: 제스처 (ko) (jeseucheo) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: îşaret (ku) Kyrgyz: жаңдоо (ky) (jaŋdoo) Latin: gestus (la) m Latvian: žests m Lithuanian: gestas m Macedonian: гест m (gest) Mongolian: Cyrillic: дохио (mn) (doxio) Mongolian: ᠳᠣᠬᠢᠶ᠎ᠠ (dokiy-a) Norwegian: Bokmål: gest m Nynorsk: gest m Pashto: اشاره (ps) Persian: ژست (fa) (žest), اشاره (fa) (ešâre) Polish: gest (pl) m Portuguese: gesto (pt) m, sinal (pt) Romanian: gest (ro) n Russian: жест (ru) m (žest), телодвиже́ние (ru) n (telodvižénije) Scottish Gaelic: gluasad m Serbo-Croatian: gesta (sh) f Cyrillic: ге̏ст m Roman: gȅst (sh) m Slovak: gesto (sk) n Slovene: gesta f, kretnja f Spanish: gesto (es) m, ademán (es) Swedish: gest (sv) c, åtbörd (sv) c Tajik: имову ишора (imovu išora), ишора (tg) (išora), ишорат (išorat) Tatar: ишарә (tt) (işarä) Thai: ท่าทาง (th) (tâa-taang) Turkish: işaret (tr), jest (tr), (medicine) gesture (tr), el kol hareketi, baş hareketi, el hareketi, kol hareketi Turkmen: yşarat Ukrainian: жест m (žest), ві́друх m (vídrux) Urdu: اشاره m (iśārā) Uyghur: ئىشارەت (isharet) Uzbek: imo (uz), ishora (uz), ishorat (uz) Vietnamese: cử chỉ (vi), bộ tịch (vi) Yiddish: זשעסט m (zhest)

act or remark

Afrikaans: gebaar Armenian: ժեստ (hy) (žest) Catalan: gest (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 表示 (zh) (biǎoshì) Czech: gesto (cs) n Dutch: gebaar (nl) n, geste (nl) f Finnish: ele (fi), ilmaus (fi) French: geste (fr) m Galician: sinal (gl) m, xesto (gl) m Georgian: ჟესტი (žesṭi), ნიშანი (ka) (nišani) German: Geste (de) f Hebrew: גֶ׳סְטָה f (jes'tá) (colloquial) Latvian: žests m Norwegian: Bokmål: gest m Nynorsk: gest m Portuguese: gesto (pt) m Russian: жест (ru) m (žest), посту́пок (ru) m (postúpok) Serbo-Croatian: gesta (sh) f, gest (sh) m Slovak: gesto (sk) n Spanish: gesto (es) m, detalle (es) m, atención (es) f Swedish: gest (sv) c

Verb

gesture (third-person singular simple present gestures, present participle gesturing, simple past and past participle gestured)

1. (intransitive) To make a gesture or gestures.

   My dad told me never to gesture with my hands when I talk.

   Never gesture at someone using your middle finger: it may be perceived as an insult.

2. (transitive) To express (something) by a gesture or gestures.

   He gestured his disgust.

3. (transitive) To accompany or illustrate with gesture or action.
   • 1594–1597, Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Will[iam] Stansby [for Matthew Lownes], published 1611, →OCLC, (please specify the page):

     It is not orderly read, nor gestured as beseemeth.

4. (transitive) To express or signal (to someone) by a gesture or gestures (to do something, go somewhere, etc).
   • 1915, Booth Tarkington, “Wednesday Madness”, in The Cosmopolitan, page 61:

     […] she sweepingly gestured him to the pillory — a chair upon the platform, facing the school. Here he suffered for the unusual term of an hour, with many jocular and cunning eyes constantly upon him; and, when he was released at noon, horrid shouts […]

   • 2010 November 1, Elizabeth Chadwick, Elizabeth Chadwick Bundle: The Greatest Knight, The Scarlet Lion, and For the King's Favor, Sourcebooks, Inc., →ISBN:

     “Then what can you do?” she snapped. “I was told you were the best. Was that an idle boast?” He sighed and gestured her to sit down. “My lady, I—” “Countess,” she said sharply.

   • 2021 May 1, Bruce Allsman, The Museum Curator, Bruce Yeoh:

     Lorna gestured him to wait and handed the digital camera back to her. […] The guard gestured her to follow him. He seemed harmless without any guile as he stood facing her, waiting for her. She nodded and gestured, telling him to lead the way.

Synonyms

• ((intransitive) make a gesture): gesticulate

Hyponyms

• ((intransitive) make a gesture): beckon

Translations

to make a gesture

American Sign Language: FlatB@InsideChesthigh-FlatB@InsideChesthigh CirclesMidline-CirclesMidline Bulgarian: жестикулирам (bg) (žestikuliram) Chinese: Mandarin: 做手勢／做手势 (zuò shǒushì) Esperanto: gesti Finnish: elehtiä (fi); osoittaa (fi) (gesture at) German: gestikulieren (de) Maori: tuone, ohaoha Portuguese: gesticular (pt) Russian: жестикули́ровать (ru) impf (žestikulírovatʹ) Slovak: gestikulovať Spanish: gestear (es) Swedish: gestikulera (sv)

to express something by a gesture

Chinese: Mandarin: 表示 (zh) (biǎoshì) Dutch: gebaren (nl) Finnish: elehtiä (fi), osoittaa eleellään German: (jemandem etwas) bedeuten Maori: whakapuwheto (to show contempt) Portuguese: gesticular (pt) Spanish: gestear (es) Swedish: gestikulera (sv)

See also

• Appendix:Gestures

Further reading

• “gesture”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “gesture”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Alemannic German

Adjective

gesture

1. Alternative form of gesturm

Latin

Participle

gestūre

1. vocative masculine singular of gestūrus