jess

See also: Jess

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: jĕs, IPA^(key): /d͡ʒɛs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛs

Etymology 1

From Middle English ges, from Middle French gies, from the plural of jet (“throw”), from Vulgar Latin *iectus, jectus < iactus (“a throwing”), or from jeter (“to throw”), itself from Latin iactare.

Noun

jess (plural jesses)

1. (falconry) A short strap fastened around the leg of a bird used in falconry, to which a leash may be fastened.
   • 1486, Juliana Berners, The booke of hauking, huntyng and fysshyng‎^[1], London, published 1566:

     Haukes haue about theyr legges gesses made of lether moste comonly, some of silke which should no lenger but that the knottes of them should appere in ye myddes of the left hande betwene the longe fynger and the leche fynger bicause the lewnes should be fastened to them with a payre of tyrettes, whiche tyrettes should rest vpon the lewnes and not vpon gesses, for hangyng and fastyng vpon trees when she fleyth […]

   • 1594, Christopher Marlow[e], The Troublesome Raigne and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second, King of England: […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press] for Henry Bell, […], published 1622, →OCLC, (please specify the page):

     I am that cedar; shake me not too much;
     And you the eagles; soar ye ne’er so high,
     I have the jesses that will pull you down;

   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]:

     […] If I do prove her haggard,
     Though that her jesses were my dear heartstrings,
     I’ld whistle her off and let her down the wind,
     To pray at fortune.

   • 1686, Richard Blome, The Gentlemans Recreation, Part 2, Chapter 24 “Certain Terms of Art used in Falconry, with an Explanation thereof, Alphabetically set down,” p. 62,^[2]

     Jesses are the short straps of Leather that are fastned to her Legs, and so to the Lease by the Varvils.

   • 1773, James Campbell, A Treatise on modern faulconry:

     If your hawk is bad-weathered, that is, will not fit on your fist when the wind blows, but hales, and beats, and hangs by the jeſſes, ſhe has an ill habit of the worſt kind.

Verb

jess (third-person singular simple present jesses, present participle jessing, simple past and past participle jessed)

1. (falconry) To fasten a strap around the leg of a hawk.

Etymology 2

See jet (etymology 2).

Noun

jess (plural jesses)

1. Alternative form of jet (the mineral).
2. Alternative form of jet (the color).

Etymology 3

See just.

Adverb

jess (not comparable)

1. Pronunciation spelling of just.

References

• Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967

Anagrams

• JSEs, JSSE

Finnish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈjesː/, [ˈje̞s̠ː]
• Rhymes: -esː
• Syllabification^(key): jess

Interjection

jess!

1. Alternative form of jes

Further reading

• “jess”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[3] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-02

Icelandic

Etymology

From English yes.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jɛsː/
• Rhymes: -ɛsː

Interjection

jess

1. (informal) yes (exclamation of satisfaction, joy, etc.)