Definitions

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

  • noun A ski trail with an artificially prepared surface of packed snow.
  • noun An unpaved road or beaten track.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun See pist.

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

  • noun (Min.) The track or tread a horseman makes upon the ground he goes over.

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

  • noun skiing a downhill trail.
  • noun fencing the field of play of a fencing match.
  • noun archaic The track left by somebody riding a horse.

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

  • noun a flat rectangular area for fencing bouts
  • noun a ski run densely packed with snow

Etymologies

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

[French, from Italian pista, from obsolete pistare, to trample down, variant of pestare; see piston.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French piste.

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Examples

Comments

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  • In fencing, how you feel after you lose a bout. Ha. Ha.

    No, seriously. In fencing, the specially marked-out playing area.

    February 6, 2007

  • a ski trail with densely packed snow

    September 29, 2008

  • Sir Paul said he was fond of the track, which was inspired by experimental composers John Cage and Karlheinz Stockhausen: "I like it because it's The Beatles free, going off piste."

    November 17, 2008