fast
UK /fɑːst/ · US /fæst/ adjective, noun, adverb, verb, proper noun
Forms faster fastest fasts fasting fasted F.A.S.T. F. A. S. T.
- adjective (dated) Firmly or securely fixed in place; stable. “That rope is dangerously loose. Make it fast!”
- adjective Firm against attack; fortified by nature or art; impregnable; strong.
- adjective (of people) Steadfast, with unwavering feeling. (Now mostly in set phrases like fast friend(s).)
- adjective Moving with great speed, or capable of doing so; swift, rapid; light. “I am going to buy a fast car.”
- adjective (nuclear physics, of a neutron) Having a kinetic energy between 1 million and 20 million electron volts; often used to describe the energy state of free neutrons at the moment of their release by a nuclear fission or nuclear fusion reaction (i.e., before the neutrons have been slowed down by anything). “Plutonium-240 has a much higher fission cross-section for fast neutrons than for thermal neutrons.”
- adjective Of a place, characterised by business, hustle and bustle, etc.
- adjective Causing unusual rapidity of play or action. “a fast racket, or tennis court”
- adjective (computing, of a piece of hardware) Able to transfer data in a short period of time.
- noun (UK, rail transport) A train that calls at only some stations it passes between its origin and destination, typically just the principal stations.
- adverb 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.”
- adverb (of sleeping) Deeply or soundly . “The princess was sleeping fast, and her servants were fast asleep too.”
- adverb Immediately following in place or time; close, very near . “The horsemen came fast on our heels.”
- adverb Quickly, with great speed; within a short time . “Do it as fast as you can.”
- adverb Ahead of the correct time or schedule. “I think my watch is running fast.”
- verb (intransitive) To practice religious abstinence, especially from food.
- verb (intransitive) To reduce or limit one's nutrition intake for medical or health reasons, to diet.
- verb (transitive, sciences) To cause (a person or animal) to abstain, especially from eating.
- noun The act or practice of fasting, religious abstinence from food.
- noun Any of the fasting periods in the liturgical year.
- adjective (mnemonic, acronym) An acronym for remembering desirable characteristics for goal-setting: frequently discussed, ambitious, specific, transparent.
Synonyms
firm immobile secure stable stuck tight fortified impenetrable quick speedy light rapid swift easy deep sound colour-fast ahead gain slutty fasting debauched degenerate degraded dissipated dissolute libertine profligate riotous flying
Antonyms
loose penetrable weak light behind slow local slow train stopper loosely lightly slowly
Etymology
From Middle English fast, fest, from Old English fæst (“firm, secure”), from Proto-West Germanic *fast, from Proto-Germanic *fastuz; see it for cognates and further etymology.
The development of “rapid” from an original sense of “secure” apparently happened first in the adverb and then transferred to the adjective; compare hard in expressions like “to run hard”. The original sense of “secure, firm” is now slightly archaic, but retained in the related fasten (“make secure”). Also compare close meaning change from Latin rapiō (“to snatch”) to Latin rapidus (“rapid, quick”), from Irish sciob (“to snatch”) to Irish sciobtha (“quick”).
From Middle English fast, faste, from Old English fæste, from fæst + -e (adverb-forming suffix).
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).
From Middle English faste, fasten, from Old English fæsten (“fast, fasting”), from Proto-West Germanic *fastuni, from Proto-Germanic *fastu(b)nją (“fast, fasting”). Cognate with Old Frisian festene, feste (Modern West Frisian fêsten, fêste), Middle Dutch vastene (Modern Dutch vasten), Middle Low German vastene (Modern German Low German Fasten), German Faste, Fasten (“fast, fasting”), Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐍃𐍄𐌿𐌱𐌽𐌹 (fastubni, “fasting”). Possibly merged with Old Norse fasta (“fast, fasting”), whence also Danish faste (“fast, fasting”), Swedish fasta (“fast, fasting”).
Webster’s 1913
- verb To abstain from food; to omit to take nourishment in whole or in part; to go hungry.
- verb To practice abstinence as a religious exercise or duty; to abstain from food voluntarily for a time, for the mortification of the body or appetites, or as a token of grief, or humiliation and penitence.
- noun Abstinence from food; omission to take nounrishment.
- noun Voluntary abstinence from food, for a space of time, as a spiritual discipline, or as a token of religious humiliation.
Etymology [AS. fæstan; akin to D. vasten, OHG. fasten, G. fasten, Icel. & Sw. fasta, Dan. faste, Goth. fastan to keep, observe, fast, and prob. to E. fast firm.]
Etymology [OE. faste, fast; cf. AS. f, OHG. fasta, G. faste. See Fast, v. i.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “fast”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details