gesture

Pluralgestures

Formsgestures, gesturing, gestured

1. 1
   nouncountable

   A movement of the limbs or body, especially one made to emphasize or accompany speech.

   A sweeping gesture of his hand silenced the room.

   Her gestures grew more animated as the argument heated up.

   Similarmovement, motion, gesticulation, signal

   Note

   The word began with conduct rather than motion: Medieval Latin gestūra, "a mode of action", from Latin gerō, "to bear oneself, behave". That older weight lingers in Milton's Paradise Lost (1667), where "in every gesture dignity and love" describes a whole bearing as much as any movement of the hand, close to the obsolete sense of posture. Today the noun counts single movements and also names the art itself, as in speech and gesture.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   An act or remark made as a formality or to signal an attitude or feeling.

   Sending a card was a small gesture of sympathy.

   The company's donation was widely seen as an empty gesture.

   Similartoken, sign, expression, act

3. 3
   verbintransitive

   To move the hands, arms, or body in a way that communicates or emphasizes something.

   He gestured impatiently for the waiter to come over.

   Drivers who gesture rudely at others can provoke road rage.

   Similarmotion, signal, gesticulate, wave

   Note

   Without an object, the verb takes its detail from prepositions. You gesture with your hands, gesture at someone, or gesture for a waiter to come over. Gesturing at a person usually carries an edge of rudeness, as the middle-finger warning suggests. When the person signaled becomes the direct object, the verb shifts to signaling someone to act.

4. 4
   verbtransitive

   To signal to someone, by a gesture, to do something or go somewhere.

   He gestured the children to come inside before the rain started.

   Officers gesture drivers to pull over when the lane is closed.

   Similarmotion, signal, wave, beckon

   Note

   The person signaled is the direct object, and what they should do follows directly. It can be an infinitive, as in Elizabeth Chadwick's "gestured her to sit down" (2010), or a destination, as in Booth Tarkington's "gestured him to the pillory" (1915). No preposition comes before the person. The gesture itself goes unnamed; only its instruction is reported.

5. 5
   verbtransitive

   To express something, such as a feeling or intention, through a gesture or gestures.

   She gestured her impatience by tapping her watch.

   Performers gesture meaning that words alone cannot convey.

   Similarsignal, indicate, express, show, convey

6. 6
   nouncountable

   A motion made on a touchscreen or with a pointing device that the system recognizes as a command.

   Pinch gestures let users zoom without pressing any buttons.

   The tablet maps each gesture to a specific shortcut.

   Note

   Interface design borrowed the word for movements a machine reads as commands: a tap, swipe or pinch on a touchscreen, or a path traced with a mouse, as in a browser controlled by mouse gestures. What makes a motion a gesture here is that the system recognizes its pattern and acts on it. It is the bodily movement with software as the audience.

7. 7
   verbtransitive

   To accompany or illustrate something with gesture or physical action.

   She gestured every line of the poem to help the children picture it.

   Good lecturers gesture their key points to make them memorable.

   Similarmime

   Note

   Here the object is a text or speech, delivered with fitting action. Richard Hooker's Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie (1594–1597) complains of something "not orderly read, nor gestured as beseemeth." The gestures serve words that are already there rather than standing in for them, which separates this use from expressing a feeling by gesture.

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