foist

verb /fɔɪst/

1. To introduce or insert surreptitiously or without warrant.

   transitive

   But apart from this, it is difficult for a man like Watt to tell a long story like Watt's without leaving out some things, and foisting in others.

2. To force another to accept especially by stealth or deceit; to stick.

   transitive

   I am, of course, perfectly aware of how old men try to foist on the public the decay of their intellects and all the rest of their senile shortcomings as valuable qualities, the possession of which gives them special authority.

3. To pass off as genuine or worthy.

   transitive

   foist costly and valueless products on the public

Where it comes from

Probably from archaic Dutch vuisten (“to take into one’s hand”), from Middle Dutch vuysten, from vuyst (“fist”); akin to Old English fyst (“fist”).

Adapted from the Wiktionary entry foist (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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