whist¹ / (h)wist/ • n. a card game, usually for two pairs of players, in which points are scored according to the number of tricks won.whist² • interj. variant spelling of whisht.

whist Card game for four people playing as two pairs of partners. The aim is to accumulate ‘tricks’ – sets of cards, one from each player, in which the player of the highest-value card ‘takes the trick’. The object of ordinary whist is to amass more tricks than any other player. Other whist games include contract whist, in which players specify how many tricks they will make; and solo whist, in which one player contracts to make tricks and all the others conspire to thwart him or her.

whist2 card-game. XVII. alt. (perh. by assoc. with prec.) of earlier whisk (XVII), perh. f. WHISK vb. from the action of whisking away the tricks.

whist1 excl. to call for silence. XIV. of imit. orig.
Hence as adj. silent, hushed XV; as vb. become or †make silent XVI.