zest, int.

zest
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zest_int%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2018

# † zestinterjection

## Earlier version

- zest, int. in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the interjection zest mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the interjection zest. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.

This word is now obsolete. It is only recorded in the early 1700s.

### Where does the interjection zest come from?

Earliest known use

early 1700s

The only known use of the interjection zest is in the early 1700s.

OED's earliest evidence for zest is from 1705, in the writing of John Vanbrugh, playwright and architect.

It is also recorded as a noun from the late 1600s.

zest is probably a borrowing from French.

Etymons: French zest.

### Nearby entries

1. zeroth, adj. 1850–
2. zero tillage, n. 1963–
3. zero tolerance, n. 1940–
4. zerovalent, adj. 1906–
5. zero waste, adj. & n. 1974–
6. zero-zero, adj. & n. 1930–
7. zerumbet, n. 1640–
8. zest, n.¹ 1674–
9. zest, n.² 1706
10. zest, v. 1702–
11. zest, int.1705–22
12. zester, n. 1963–
13. zestful, adj. 1797–
14. zestfully, adv. 1843–
15. zestiness, n. 1912–
16. zesty, adj. 1826–
17. zeta, n.¹?a1425–
18. zeta, n.² 1706–1860
19. zetacism, n. 1860–
20. zeta function, n. 1879–
21. zeta-ic, adj. 1840–1927

## Etymology

### Summary

Probably a borrowing from French.
Etymon: French zest.
Probably < French zest, interjection (1692 as zeste expressing quick movement; 1611 in Cotgrave expressing an act of hitting or shaking a person or thing), ultimately related to zeste zest n.1

## Meaning & use

Obsolete.

1. 1705–22
   Used to accompany or represent quick action or movement.
   1. 1705

      > Oons the old Woman—Zest.

      J. Vanbrugh, Confederacy iii. i. 32
   2. a1722

      > The hangman takes a..cloath..which he thrustes doune the throat of him..then zest with violence pules furth the cloath al ful of blood.

      J. Lauder, Journals (1900) 70
   1. quick 1593–
      As an imperative: ‘be quick!’. See also quick march, int.
   2. fludgs 1611
      (Part of speech uncertain.)
   3. yare a1616
      Alert, nimble, active, brisk, quick.
   4. zest 1705–22
      Used to accompany or represent quick action or movement.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

zest, int. was revised in June 2018.

zest, int. was last modified in June 2025.