Meaning

noun a spear with three or more prongs; used for spearing fish (especially salmon)

originFrom earlier leyster, lister, perhaps via Middle English *lēster, *līster, from Old Norse ljóstr (“leister”), from ljósta (“to smite, strike; to hit, strike (with an arrow or spear)”), from Proto-Germanic *leustaną (“to hit, strike”), from Proto-Indo-European *lew-s- (“to loosen (by knocking)”); the word is cognate with Danish lyster (“fish spear, gig, leister”), Icelandic ljósta (“to hit,…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0