cist

¹ American  

[sist] / sɪst /

noun

Classical Antiquity.

1. a box or chest, especially for sacred utensils.

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cist ² American  

[sist, kist] / sɪst, kɪst /

Also kist

noun

1. a prehistoric sepulchral tomb or casket.

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cist ¹ British  

/ sɪst /

noun

1. a wooden box for holding ritual objects used in ancient Rome and Greece

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cist ² British  

/ sɪst /

noun

1. archaeol a box-shaped burial chamber made from stone slabs or a hollowed tree trunk

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Other Word Forms

• cisted adjective
• cistic adjective

Etymology

Origin of cist¹

1795–1805; < Latin cista < Greek kístē chest

Origin of cist²

1795–1805; < Welsh < Latin cista. See cist ¹

Example Sentences

In September 2017, a farmer near Rock, Northumberland, preparing his field for drainage discovered a burial cist - or stone coffin - containing a skeleton and a jug.

From BBC

But they realized the pact had a warm­ing downside too, says David Fahey, a physi­cist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Earth System Research Lab­oratory in Boulder, Colorado.

From Science Magazine

“There’s so much variation in how they are positioned,” she said, “between whether they are cremated or buried; whether they are within a tomb, or a chamber, or a cist or a pit grave; whether they are placed face down or face up.”

From New York Times

The cist contained a finely-decorated beaker which had held food or drink for the deceased's journey into the afterlife.

From BBC

The skeleton of "Thankerton Man" was found in a stone cist - a type of burial chamber - at Boatbridge Quarry, Thankerton, South Lanarkshire, in 1970.

From BBC