Etymology Probably from archaic Dutch vuisten (“to take into one’s hand”), from Middle Dutch vuysten, from vuyst (“fist”); akin to Old English fyst (“fist”).
1
To introduce or insert surreptitiously or without warrant.
But apart from this, it is difficult for a man like Watt to tell a long story like Watt's without leaving out some things, and foisting in others.1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, [Paris]: Olympia Press, →OCLC:
the Tale of Zayn al-Asnám is one of two which Galland repudiated, as having been foisted into his 8th volume without his knowledgea. 1896, William Alexander Clouston, Variants and Analogues of some of the Tales in the Supplemental Nights: Volume 2:
1 more example
attempts to foist alleged grammatical “correctness” on native speakers of an “incorrect” dialect are nothing but the unacknowledged and oppressive exercise of social control2006, Theodore Dalrymple, The Gift of Language:
2
To force another to accept especially by stealth or deceit; to stick.
I am, of course, perfectly aware of how old men try to foist on the public the decay of their intellects and all the rest of their senile shortcomings as valuable qualities, the possession of which gives them special authority.1933 August, [George] Bernard Shaw, The Political Madhouse in America and Nearer Home: A Lecture, London: Constable & Co, →OCLC, page 11:
It is only a decade or so since the air was thick with muttering that L.M.S. influence was far too strong on the newly-born Railway Executive and that too many L.M.S. practices were being foisted on the rest of the system.1961 May, “Editorial: Mr. M. presents Dr. B. - for a limited season only”, in Trains Illustrated, page 257:
3
To pass off as genuine or worthy.
foist costly and valueless products on the public1969, Jonathan Spivak, “Competitive Problems in the Drug Industry”, in The Wall Street Journal:
Cause if yer did the foist thing yer know along would come a blizzard an’ make yer out a liar.1906, The Elevator Constructor, page 11:
Guess that brandy the doc give me was the foist thing set me straight.1911, Our Paper, page 491:
4 more examples
You know more about sculpture than what I do, Dirk, but you don’t know the foist thing about rugs.1913, Rupert Hughes, The Amiable Crimes of Dirk Memling, New York, N.Y.; London: D. Appleton and Company, page 84:
Now, the foist thing we gotta do is put a guard on the door an’ see that nobody leaves the house.1933, James Reach, Tom Taggart, Oh! Clarissa!: A Comedy in Three Acts, page 54:
And the foist thing you know, he’s a musician, no less![…]They noticed I looked worried, and started givin’ me the third degree, and the foist thing you know they got it odda me.1936, Post Stories of 1936, pages 126 and 136:
The foist thing is the govnement gung to take away a big bunch money fa texis, you shouldn’t go to jail.1939, The New Yorker, page 22:
Foist
noun
Etymology Fo + -ist
1
A follower of Chinese Buddhism.
Related terms
Foism
foist
noun
Etymology Probably from archaic Dutch vuisten (“to take into one’s hand”), from Middle Dutch vuysten, from vuyst (“fist”); akin to Old English fyst (“fist”).
The foist had lately arrived form the country and was known to be doing a thriving trade in and around Westminster Hall where many country folk and others came to see lawyers.1977, Gãmini Salgãdo, The Elizabethan Underworld, Folio Society, published 2006, page 54:
These are mad boys, I tell you; these are things That will not strike their top-sails to a foist, / And let a man of war, an argosy, Hull and cry cockles.c. 1608–1610, Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, “Philaster: Or, Love Lies a Bleeding”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1679, →OCLC, Act V, (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
foist
noun
Etymology From Old French fust (whence also French fût), from Latin fustis.