n. Chiefly Southern US A small mongrel dog. [Variant of obsolete fist, short for fisting dog, from Middle English fisting, a blowing, breaking wind, from Old English fīsting; see pezd- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.