cesta

American  

[ses-tuh] / ˈsɛs tə /

noun

Jai Alai.

1. a narrow, curved basket fitted on one end to a wooden handle with a glovelike compartment at the base, for catching and throwing the ball.

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Etymology

Origin of cesta

1900–05; < Spanish: literally, basket < Latin cista chest

Example Sentences

That explains the oversized glove, which for Anderson felt like a jai alai cesta compared with the modest mitts infielders use.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 9, 2025

While jai-alai has been played for centuries in the mountains of Spain�where boys begin strapping on the huge, curved wicker cesta as toddlers�the game is played mainly at the $2 window in the U.S.

From Time Magazine Archive

A cesta is ribbed, however, and the patterned wicker puts more English on the ball than can be found in most freshman college classes.

From Time Magazine Archive

A man accompanying them, it developed, knew Cuba and Jai Alai, and he secured for the amusement of the others a cesta, the basket-like racquet worn strapped to the arm.

From San Crist?bal de la Habana by Hergesheimer, Joseph

His replies came back sharp and swift as a pelota from a cesta.

From Zone Policeman 88; a close range study of the Panama canal and its workers by Franck, Harry Alverson