fast

In a firm or secure manner, securely; in such a way as not to be moved; safe, sound .

Adjective

  1. Firmly or securely fixed in place; stable.
    • That rope is dangerously loose. Make it fast!

    Synonyms: firm immobile secure stable stuck tight

    Antonyms: loose

  2. Firm against attack; fortified by nature or art; impregnable; strong.
    • out-lawes […] lurking in woods and fast places - 1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande […], Dublin: […] Societie of Stationers, […], →OCLC; republished as A View of...

    Synonyms: fortified impenetrable

    Antonyms: penetrable weak

  3. Steadfast, with unwavering feeling. (Now mostly in set phrases like fast friend(s).)
    • I still hear you sayin', "Dear one, hold me fast" - 1933, Will Hudson, Irving Mills, Eddy DeLange, Moonglow:
  4. Moving with great speed, or capable of doing so; swift, rapid; light.
    • I am going to buy a fast car.

    Synonyms: quick speedy light

    1. (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.

      Synonyms: quick speedy light

  5. Of a place, characterised by business, hustle and bustle, etc.
    • Sydney is a fast city, and the pace is becoming increasingly more frantic. - 1968, Carl Ruhen, The Key Club, Sydney: Scripts, page 15:
  6. Causing unusual rapidity of play or action.
    • a fast racket, or tennis court
    • a fast track
    • a fast billiard table
  7. 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. - 2007 November 18, Jim Holt, “Mind...
  8. Deep or sound (of sleep); fast asleep (of people).
    • Since his majesty went into the field, I have seen her rise from her bed, throw her nightgown upon her, unlock her closet, take forth paper, fold it, write upon’t, read it, afterwards seal it, and again return to bed;...

    Synonyms: deep sound

    Antonyms: light

  9. 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. - 1979, Kax Wilson, A History of Textiles, Westview Press, →ISBN, page 87:
    • Cochineal is remarkably fast on protein fibers, remaining brilliant and saturated despite exposure to sunlight and washing. - 2026, Sara Temme, “Two Insects nad Their Brilliant Reds”, in Handwoven, volume XLVII, number...

    Synonyms: colour-fast

  10. Tenacious; retentive.
    • Roses, damask and red, are fast flowers of their smells. - 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Gardens”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:
  11. 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 […] -...
    • Had Senator Wilson won the unenviable reputation of being a fast man—a lover of wine, or had he shown himself to the public in a state of inebriety, unable to stand erect in Fanueil Hall for instance, leaning upon the...
  12. Uncharacteristically mature or promiscuous for one's age.
    • […] if she is of the slightly faster kind that gives smart lunch parties at the Strand Corner House, her diet is sometimes a little stronger; she takes to novels of the orchid house and the tiger's lair, to the artless...

Origin

Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *fastuz Proto-West Germanic *fast Old English fæst Middle English fast English fast 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”).

Forms

faster fastest

Synonyms

quick rapid speedy swift easy slutty

Antonyms

slow

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

Adverb

  1. 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. - c. 1596–1598 (date written), W[illiam] Shakespeare, The Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice. […] (First...
    • 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. - 1726...

    Synonyms: fastly firmly securely tightly

    Antonyms: loosely

  2. Deeply or soundly .
    • The princess was sleeping fast, and her servants were fast asleep too.

    Synonyms: deeply

    Antonyms: lightly

  3. 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.
  4. Quickly, with great speed; within a short time .
    • Do it as fast as you can.
    • Faster than a speeding bit, the internet upended media and entertainment companies. Piracy soared, and sales of albums and films slid. Newspapers lost advertising and readers to websites. Stores selling books, CDs and...

    Synonyms: fastly quickly rapidly speedily swiftly

    Antonyms: slowly

  5. Ahead of the correct time or schedule.
    • I think my watch is running fast.

    Synonyms: ahead

    Antonyms: behind

Origin

From Middle English fast, faste, from Old English fæste, from fæst + -e (adverb-forming suffix).

Forms

faster fastest

Interjection

  1. Ellipsis of stand fast, a warning not to pass between the arrow and the target.

    Antonyms: loose

Noun Entry 4

  1. 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. - 1878, Joseph Bingham, The Antiquities of the Christian Church, volume 2,...
  2. Any of the fasting periods in the liturgical year.
    • 1662 Peter Gunning, The Holy Fast of Lent Defended Against All Its Prophaners: Or, a Discourse, Shewing that Lent-Fast was First Taught the World by the Apostles (1677 [1662]), p. 13 (translation of the Paschal Epistle...

Origin

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”).

Forms

fasts

Derived

black fast breakfast break one's fast fast day Fast of Esther Fast of Gedaliah Fast of Tammuz Fast of Tebet Great Fast

Noun rail transport, railways

  1. A train that calls at only some stations it passes between its origin and destination, typically just the principal stations.

    Synonyms: express express train fast train

    Antonyms: local slow train stopper

Forms

fasts

Verb

  1. To practice religious abstinence, especially from food.
    • Thou didst fast and weep for the child. - 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Samuel 12:21:
    • Fasting he went to sleep, and fasting waked. - 1671, John Milton, “The First Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […],...
    • 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?
  2. 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 - 1977, Suza Norton, “To get the most benefit from fasting use a body-building diet”, in Yoga Journal, Jul-Aug 1977, p. 40:
    • 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. - 1983, Experimental Lung Research, volumes 5-6, Informa...
  3. 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. - Walker et al. (2007)
    • Kittens, when fasted overnight, were not hypoglycemic (<60 mg/dl). - Semick et al. (2018)

Origin

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...

Forms

fasts fasting fasted

Derived

fastgang nonfasted outfast unfasted