heist

Etymology

It is from English an alteration of hoist, to lift,^[2][3][4][5] which the OED and the Shorter Oxford take as a spelling of a local American pronunciation.^[6][7][8] Barnhart and Etymonline think it probably came from hoist in its slang sense "to shoplift", or in the older British slang sense of lifting another person onto one's back to help him break into a house, implied in hoister (1708).^[9][10] Ayto suggests that it may preserve the older form heise, from which hoist itself was altered through hoise.^[11] Hoist is probably from Middle Dutch hyssen (“to hoist”), related to Low German hissen.^[9][10] Compare the American regional verb hist, to raise or hoist, also to steal, recorded from 1707.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

MWU dates the transitive verb from 1865, in the dialect sense "to hoist",^[3] and the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English date the word to the mid 19th century in the United States.^[7][8] In the criminal sense, Barnhart and Etymonline find it first implied in heister, a shoplifter or thief, in 1927.^[9][10]

Semantic evolution

In American underworld slang the verb meant to steal or to hold up: Green's Dictionary of Slang quotes Carl Panzram's journal in 1928, heist 'em up, and notes the spellings hist and hyst.^[12] Etymonline finds the verb itself, as heisted, only in 1943.^[10] The noun, a robbery or hold-up, followed in 1930,^[6][9][3] first in E. D. Sullivan's Chicago Surrenders.^[6] It became a usual word for a large planned robbery, such as of a bank,^[3] and Collins labels it chiefly American and Canadian slang.^[4] MWU also records the noun for the loot itself.^[3] In Derbyshire and in America heist was also a call in the game of marbles allowing a player to shoot from the knee rather than from the ground.^[13]

Timeline

• 1707 – hist, to raise or hoist, also to steal (American regional).^[6]
• 1865 – verb, to hoist (dialect).^[3]
• 1927 – heister, a shoplifter or thief.^[9][10]
• 1928 – verb, to steal, to hold up.^[12]
• 1930 – noun, a robbery, a hold-up.^[6][9][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (slang) A robbery, especially an armed one or a planned break-in at a bank or store; a hold-up: The gang planned the jewellery heist for months.^[3][4][6]
2. (slang) Something stolen in such a robbery.^[3]

Verb

1. (slang) To steal something, or to rob a person or place: Two men heisted the armoured van.^[4][3][6]
2. (chiefly dialectal) To hoist.^[3]

Word family

• heister

Related words

• hoist
• hist

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
12. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
13. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)