Fascinating word, feisty. The Online Etymology Dictionary says:

Amer.Eng. from feist "small dog," from fice, fist Amer.Eng. 1805 "small dog," short for fysting curre "stinking cur," attested from 1529, from M.E. fysten, fisten "break wind" (1440), related to O.E. fisting "stink." The 1811 slang dictionary defines fice as "a small windy escape backwards, more obvious to the nose than ears; frequently by old ladies charged on their lap-dogs." Cf. also Dan. fise "to blow, to fart," and obs. Eng. askefise, lit. "fire-blower, ash-blower," from an unrecorded O.N. source, used in M.E. for a kind of bellows, but orig. "a term of reproach among northern nations for an unwarlike fellow who stayed at home in the chimney corner"


So feisty is farting!

(This comment was modified on Oct 15, 2007 06:21 AM)

i thought it meant being a bit energetic, frisky,feeling that you want to be a bit naughty.
but it still works as apes might feel a bit randy when full of gas.
* cocks leg to have a good feist *

I always thought it meant that too, so I googled it. They used it as a woman who stuck up for herself.( now we know that they are just blowing hot air )
* makes self ready for a beating*