Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To pass off as genuine, valuable, or worthy.
  • transitive verb To impose (something or someone unwanted) upon another by coercion or trickery.
  • transitive verb To insert fraudulently or deceitfully.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To smell musty: same as fust.
  • Same as foisty.
  • noun A sly trick; a juggle; an imposition.
  • noun A cheat; a sharper.
  • noun A cutpurse; a pickpocket. Also foister.
  • To work in by a trick; thrust in wrongfully, surreptitiously, or without warrant; insert or obtrude fraudulently or by imposition; pass or palm off as genuine or worthy: followed by in or into before the thing affected, and by upon before the person: as, to foist a spurious document upon one.
  • To falsify or make fraudulent by some insertion; cog, as a die.
  • noun A breaking wind without noise: same as fist, 1.
  • noun A puffball.
  • noun A light and fast-sailing ship.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete A foister; a sharper.
  • noun obsolete A trick or fraud; a swindle.
  • transitive verb To insert surreptitiously, wrongfully, or without warrant; to interpolate; to pass off (something spurious or counterfeit) as genuine, true, or worthy; -- usually followed by in.
  • noun obsolete A light and fast-sailing ship.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To introduce or insert surreptitiously or without warrant.
  • verb transitive To force another to accept especially by stealth or deceit.
  • verb transitive To pass off as genuine or worthy.
  • noun A thief or pickpocket.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb insert surreptitiously or without warrant
  • verb to force onto another

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Probably Dutch dialectal vuisten, to take in hand, from Middle Dutch, from vuist, fist; see penkwe in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Probably from obsolete Dutch vuisten ("to take into one’s hand"), from Middle Dutch vuysten, from vuyst ("fist"); akin to Old English fyst ("fist").

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Examples

  • Besides, I'm one of those strange people who prefers live versions of songs over the over produced studio recordings the labels foist upon the artists.

    The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com 2009

  • While it could be interesting, one may hope GoOgle will not foist aka force it upon gmail users.

    Google Wave “Is What Email Would Look Like If It Were Invented Today” | Lifehacker Australia 2009

  • I'd love to have someone "foist" something as nice as that on me!

    Caron 3eme Homme Marina Geigert 2008

  • The 84-year-old leader caused outrage in October 2005 when he used a speech at the FAO to tell donor nations not to "foist" food on Zimbabwe and compared the then British premier Tony Blair to Italy's wartime dictator, Benito Mussolini.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2008

  • It is a little unusual, in fact, more than a little unusual that they didn't have the complaint filed and that the police went out there and are now going to kind of foist it upon the DA's office.

    CNN Transcript Apr 19, 2002 2002

  • If we can't "foist" religious values on our young why should we be able to foist any kind of "man made" relative belief in the worth of any kind of values?

    Drudge Retort skizziks 2009

  • Dewar supported the back-to-work bill, saying if the city and the union would not go to arbitration voluntarily Parliament would "foist" it upon them.

    Ottawa Sun 2009

  • If we can't "foist" religious values on our young why should we be able to foist any kind of "man made" relative belief in the worth of any kind of values?

    Drudge Retort 2009

  • You would think the miserable little people who foist this politically correct left wing stupidity upon us would considering applying for citizenship elsewhere.

    The Volokh Conspiracy » Quite a Warning Label 2010

  • Everyone from Ickes to retired General Pershing to Eleanor Roosevelt to even his brother Vincent tried to foist friends or relatives on him, many the Army had rejected as physically unfit.

    Wild Bill Donovan Douglas Waller 2011

Comments

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  • Foist - To be fat and moist at the same time.

    "George was foist when he got out of the shower."

    September 6, 2007

  • Eewwww.

    September 7, 2007

  • Rather than do the task he was assigned, Jim tried to foist it on one of the newer employees.

    November 20, 2007