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Vest vs Lest - What's the difference?

vest | lest |

As an adjective vest

is able, skillful.

As a conjunction lest is

for fear that; that not; in order that not; in case.

vest

English

(wikipedia vest)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A loose robe or outer garment worn historically by men in Arabic or Middle Eastern countries.
  • A sleeveless garment that buttons down the front, worn over a shirt, and often as part of a suit; a waistcoat.
  • * , chapter=10
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=The Jones man was looking at her hard. Now he reached into the hatch of his vest and fetched out a couple of cigars, everlasting big ones, with gilt bands on them.}}
  • (label) A sleeveless garment, often with a low-cut neck, usually worn under a shirt or blouse.
  • A sleeveless top, typically with identifying colours or logos, worn by an athlete or member of a sports team.
  • Any sleeveless outer garment, often for a purpose such as identification, safety, or storage.
  • * 2010 , Thomas Mullen, The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers , Random House, ISBN 9781400067534, page 162:
  • He gripped some of the shreds and pulled off his vest' and the shirt beneath it, his clothing disintegrating around him. What in the hell point was there in wearing a twenty-five-pound bulletproof ' vest if you could still get gunned to death?
  • A vestment.
  • * (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • In state attended by her maiden train, / Who bore the vests that holy rites require.
  • Clothing generally; array; garb.
  • * (William Wordsworth) (1770-1850)
  • Not seldom clothed in radiant vest / Deceitfully goes forth the morn.

    Synonyms

    * (garment worn under a shirt) singlet, tank top (US), undershirt (US) * (garment worn over a shirt) waistcoat (British)

    Hyponyms

    * (sleeveless outergarment) safety vest, scrimmage vest, fishing vest

    Derived terms

    * bulletproof vest * keep one's cards close to one's vest * life vest

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To clothe with, or as with, a vestment, or garment; to dress; to robe; to cover, surround, or encompass closely.
  • * Milton
  • Came vested all in white, pure as her mind.
  • * Dryden
  • With ether vested , and a purple sky.
  • To clothe with authority, power, etc.; to put in possession; to invest; to furnish; to endow; followed by with and the thing conferred.
  • to vest a court with power to try cases of life and death
  • * Prior
  • Had I been vested with the monarch's power.
  • To place or give into the possession or discretion of some person or authority; to commit to another; with in before the possessor.
  • The power of life and death is vested in the king, or in the courts.
  • * John Locke
  • Empire and dominion was [were] vested in him.
  • (obsolete) To invest; to put.
  • to vest money in goods, land, or houses
  • (legal) To clothe with possession; also, to give a person an immediate fixed right of present or future enjoyment of.
  • to vest a person with an estate
    an estate is vested in possession
    (Bouvier)
  • (commonly used of financial arrangements) To become vested, to become permanent.
  • My pension vests at the end of the month and then I can take it with me when I quit.
  • * 2005 , Kaye A. Thomas, Consider Your Options , page 104
  • If you doubt that you'll stick around at the company long enough for your options to vest , you should discount the value for that uncertainty as well.
  • * 2007 ,
  • Sony interpreted 17 U.S.C. § 304 as requiring that the author be alive at the start of the copyright renewal term for the author’s prior assignments to vest .

    Anagrams

    * ----

    lest

    English

    Conjunction

    (English Conjunctions)
  • For fear that; that . . . not; in order that . . . not; in case.
  • * '>citation
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-27, volume=408, issue=8846, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Lunacy? , passage=Lest any astrologer reading this result get cocky, Dr Cajochen does not believe that what he has found is directly influenced by the Moon through, say, some tidal effect. What he thinks he has discovered is an additional hand on the body’s clock-face.}}
  • That (without the negative particle); – after certain expressions denoting fear or apprehension.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=Mr. Cooke at once began a tirade against the residents of Asquith for permitting a sandy and generally disgraceful condition of the roads. So roundly did he vituperate the inn management in particular, and with such a loud flow of words, that I trembled lest he should be heard on the veranda.}}

    Usage notes

    The word lest is always followed by the , usually in either the present or future tense. For example: Lest they be captured, the soldiers fled from the battlefield. The future subjunctive would simply employ the auxiliary word should .

    Synonyms

    * (for fear that) (informal)

    See also

    * judge not lest ye be judged * in case * lest we forget

    Anagrams

    * * *

    References

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