Agisted

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /əˈdʒɪstɪd/

Definitions

1. Permitted to graze or feed livestock on land owned by someone else, generally for payment
2. Provided rights to let animals feed on pasture belonging to another, often in exchange for money
3. Allowed animals to feed temporarily on another's property, typically under a rental arrangement

Etymology: "Agisted" is the past tense and past participle of "agist," a verb meaning to allow animals to graze on land in return for a fee. The verb comes from Anglo-Norman "agister," meaning to pasture for a fee, and it belongs to the legal and agricultural vocabulary that French-speaking administrators brought into English after 1066. Its underlying idea is that the grazing rights were leased out, so the landholder earned money from livestock belonging to someone else. Beneath the French verb sits the Old French "agister," built around "gister" or "giste," a word for lodging or a resting place, which in turn ties into the notion of lying down or lodging for the night. The grazing sense grew out of that idea of animals being lodged on pasture for a set payment. English retained the word almost entirely in its specialist forms, so "agist" and its past forms are seldom met outside legal and farming contexts.

Synonyms: pastured, lodged, housed, accommodated, sheltered