Sc. Also kiest, kyst. [a. Du. keest marrow, kernel, best part of anything.] Marrow, sap, substance, vigor. Hence Keestless a., void of sap or substance.
1802. Sibbald, Chron. Sc. Poetry, Gloss., Kystless, tasteless.
1814. Carlyle, Early Lett., Oct. (1886), I. 26. So cold and kiestless am I.
1825. Jamieson, Keest, sap, substance.
1890. Alison H. Dunlop, Anent Old Edin., 132. ‘Spinning!’ he sai, ‘the ceaseless wetting of the thread would take the substance—the very keest—out of his ward’s body.
