From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishthe gistthe gistIDEAthe main idea and meaning of what someone has said or writtenthe gist of The gist of his argument is that full employment is impossible. Don’t worry about all the details as long as you get the gist (=understand the main meaning) of it. → gist
Examples from the Corpus
the gist• The gist of the article is that children should have more rights in deciding their own futures.• I couldn't hear everything they said but I got the gist. 