1. The main idea or substance of some longer or more complicated matter; the most essential or basic part: Ralph didn't read the whole article in the magazine; however, he got the gist of what was in it.

The gist of the lawyer's argument was that the law was unfair to women.

2. Etymology: "the real point" (of a law case, etc.), from Anglo-French legalese phrases; especially, cest action gist, "this action lies", meaning "this case is not sustainable by law", from Old French gist en, "it consists in, it lies in", from Latin jaceo, jacere, "to lie" and jacet, "it lies". © ALL rights are reserved.

Go to this Word A Day Revisited Index
so you can see more of Mickey Bach's cartoons.

To summarize, to extract from, and to present the most important parts of: "The teacher gisted the main points to the students as to what the final exam would include."