[a. F. ceste, ad. L. cestus.] = CESTUS1.
1577. Hanmer, Anc. Eccl. Hist. (1619), 110. Of Cestes or Wedding Girdles.
1606. Sylvester, Du Bartas, Magnif., 949. And thy brest Gird’st with a rich and odoriferous cest.
1675. Cotton, Poet. Wks. (1765), 203. Mercury … Whips me away her am’rous cest.
1678. Phillips, Cest, a Marriage Girdle.
1746. Collins, Ode Poet. Character. To whom prepar’d and bath’d in heaven, The cest of amplest power is given.
1842. Fraser’s Mag., XXVI. 80. The Graces’ charm-conferring cest Seems bound around her flower-tipp’d breast.
