fast
adjEtymology
From Middle English fasten, from Old English fæstan (“to fast”), from Proto-West Germanic *fastēn, from Proto-Germanic *fastāną (“to fast”), from the same root as Proto-Germanic *fastijaną (“to fasten”), derived from *fastuz, and thereby related to Etymology 1. The religious sense is presumably introduced in the Gothic church, from Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌽 (fastan, “hold fast (viz. to the rule of abstinence)”). This semantic development is unique to Gothic, the term glosses Greek νηστεύω (nēsteúō), Latin ieiuno which do not have similar connotations of "holding fast". The feminine noun Old High German fasta likely existed in the 8th century (shift to neuter Old High German fasten from the 9th century, whence modern German Fasten). The Old English noun originally had the sense "fortress, enclosure" and takes the religious sense only in late Old English, perhaps influenced by Old Norse fasta. The use for reduced nutrition intake for medical reasons or for weight reduction develops by the mid-1970s, back-formed from the use of the verbal noun fasting in this sense (1960s).
Definitions
Firmly or securely fixed in place
Firmly or securely fixed in place; stable.
- That rope is dangerously loose. Make it fast!
Firm against attack
Firm against attack; fortified by nature or art; impregnable; strong.
- out-lawes […] lurking in woods and fast places
Steadfast, with unwavering feeling. (Now mostly in set phrases like fast friend(s).)
- I still hear you sayin', "Dear one, hold me fast"
›+ 29 more definitionsshow fewer
Moving with great speed, or capable of doing so
Moving with great speed, or capable of doing so; swift, rapid; light.
- I am going to buy a fast car.
Of a place, characterised by business, hustle and bustle, etc.
- Sydney is a fast city, and the pace is becoming increasingly more frantic.
Causing unusual rapidity of play or action.
- a fast racket, or tennis court
- a fast track
- a fast billiard table
Able to transfer data in a short period of time.
- But at the microlevel it consists of an unimaginable number of atoms connected by springy chemical bonds, all jiggling around at a rate that even our fastest supercomputer might envy.
Deep or sound (of sleep)
Deep or sound (of sleep); fast asleep (of people).
Not running or fading when subjected to detrimental conditions such as wetness or intense…
Not running or fading when subjected to detrimental conditions such as wetness or intense light; permanent.
- All the washing has come out pink. That red tee-shirt was not fast.
- Mineral pigments were probably the first materials used for dyeing. They were generally not fast to water.
- Cochineal is remarkably fast on protein fibers, remaining brilliant and saturated despite exposure to sunlight and washing.
Tenacious
Tenacious; retentive.
- Roses, damask and red, are fast flowers of their smells.
Having an extravagant lifestyle or immoral habits.
- a fast woman
- […] we remember once hearing a fast man suggest that they were evidently "nobs who had overdrawn the badger by driving fast cattle, and going it high" — the exact signification of which words we did not understand […]
Uncharacteristically mature or promiscuous for one's age.
Ahead of the correct time or schedule.
- There must be something wrong with the hall clock. It is always fast.
More sensitive to light than average.
A train that calls at only some stations it passes between its origin and destination,…
A train that calls at only some stations it passes between its origin and destination, typically just the principal stations.
Ellipsis of stand fast, a warning not to pass between the arrow and the target.
In a firm or secure manner, securely
In a firm or secure manner, securely; in such a way as not to be moved; safe, sound .
- Hold this rope as fast as you can.
- Do as I bid you, ſhut doores after you, Faſt binde, faſt finde, A Prouerbe neuer ſtale in thrifty minde.
- Nine hundred of the ſtrongeſt Men were employed to draw up theſe Cords by many Pulleys faſtned on the Poles, and thus, in leſs than three Hours, I was raiſed and flung into the Engine, and there tyed faſt.
Deeply or soundly .
- The princess was sleeping fast, and her servants were fast asleep too.
Immediately following in place or time
Immediately following in place or time; close, very near .
- The horsemen came fast on our heels.
- Fast by the sturdy batsman the ball unheeded sped. / That ain't my style, said Casey. Strike one, the umpire said.
Quickly, with great speed
Quickly, with great speed; within a short time .
- Do it as fast as you can.
To practice religious abstinence, especially from food.
- Thou didst fast and weep for the child.
- Fasting he went to sleep, and fasting waked.
- 1677 George Fox, The Hypocrites Fast and Feast Not God's Holy Day, p. 8 (paraphrasing Matthew 6:16-18). And is it not the Command of Christ, that in their Fast they should not appear unto men to fast?
To reduce or limit one's nutrition intake for medical or health reasons, to diet.
- The ideal would be to fast in a situation where you are not tempted by food
- After the equilibration period, the rats designated for deprivation studies were made to fast for 24, 48, 72, or 96 hr according to experimental design.
To cause (a person or animal) to abstain, especially from eating.
- At 11 weeks of age, all mice were fasted overnight and underwent gallbladder ultrasonography to determine ejection fraction.
- Kittens, when fasted overnight, were not hypoglycemic (<60 mg/dl).
The act or practice of fasting, religious abstinence from food.
- 1677 George Fox, The Hypocrites Fast and Feast Not God's Holy Day, p. 8 (paraphrasing Matthew 6:16-18). And is it not the Command of Christ, that in their Fast they should not appear unto men to fast?
- anciently a change of diet was not reckoned a fast; but it consisted in a perfect abstinence from all sustenance for the whole day till evening.
Any of the fasting periods in the liturgical year.
Acronym of focused assessment with sonography for trauma.
Acronym of firefighter assist and search team.
Acronym of free advertising-supported streaming television
Acronym of facial drooping, arm weakness, speech difficulty, time, a mnemonic for…
Acronym of facial drooping, arm weakness, speech difficulty, time, a mnemonic for diagnosing a CVA or stroke.
Initialism of Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope.
An acronym for remembering desirable characteristics for goal-setting
An acronym for remembering desirable characteristics for goal-setting: frequently discussed, ambitious, specific, transparent.
A surname.
The neighborhood
- synonymspeedycapable of moving with great speed
- synonymslutty
- synonympromiscuous
- antonymslowantonym(s) of “occurring or happening within a short time”
Derived
acid-fast, as fast as one's legs could carry one, at a fast clip, bad news travels fast, barefast, bedfast, breastfast, come thick and fast, cragfast, don't drive faster than your guardian angel can fly, earthfast, enfasten, fail fast, fail-fast, fast-acting, fast and furious, fast and loose, fast as lightning, fast backward, fast blue optical transient, fast bowler, fast bowling, fast break, fast breeder, fast-breeder reactor, fast buck, fast busy signal, fast casual, fast company, fastcore, fast crab, fasten, faster than a minnow can swim a dipper, faster-than-light, faster than light, faster than Minute Rice, fast-evolving luminous transient, fast-fashion, fast fashion, fast-flowing · +108 more
Vish — recursive loop
A definitional loop anchored at fast. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.
A definitional loop anchored at fast. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.
8 hops · closes at fast
curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA