Justs

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To take part in a medieval mounted combat with lances, charging at an opponent in a contest ; the organized contests or tournaments in which such mounted fighting took place
2. Charging on horseback with a lance against a rival in an old-style knightly duel ; the formal tournaments of armored riders that featured this kind of combat
3. Tilting with a lance on horseback as knights once did in a contest ; the staged tournament events where armored knights met in mounted combat

Etymology: "Justs" is the plural of the noun "just," a variant of "joust," meaning a combat between two mounted knights with lances, and it is in that medieval sense that the verb "to just" means to charge at an opponent. The spelling shift from "joust" to "just" is a real one: the two words were the same term written differently, and "just" in this sense is the older-looking spelling that English kept alongside the other. Where "joust" came from is less certain. It is presumably traced ultimately to Latin "iuxta," meaning "near" or "besides," which suggests the idea of two riders coming close together. That connection is not fully proven, so it is best treated as a plausible guess rather than settled fact. The homonym "just," meaning fair or exact, is a different word with a different history. It came into Middle English from Old French "juste," from Latin "iustus," meaning lawful, right, or proper, and is related to "ius," meaning law. The two words share a spelling today by coincidence, though they are not related in origin.

Synonyms: joust, tilt