Forms: 1 fæste, 3 fæste, feste, south. dial. væste, veste, 3–6 faste, 3 Orm. fasste, south. dial. vaste, 3– fast; comp. 1 fæstor, 3 fæstre, south. dial. vastre, 3– faster. [OE. fæste = OS. fasto (Du. vast), OHG. fasto (MHG. vaste firmly, fixedly, closely, quickly, mod.G. fast almost), ON. fast:—OTeut. *fastô, f. fastu- FAST a.]
1. In a fast manner, so as not to be moved or shaken; lit. and fig.; firmly, fixedly. Often with stand, sit, stick, etc. † To sit fast upon: to insist upon.
c. 900. trans. Bæda’s Hist., II. xiii. Þa sceat he mid þy spere, þæt hit sticode fæste on þæm heriȝe.
c. 1205. Lay., 9562. Heore grið heo setten faste.
c. 1300. Beket, 1306. Whan ech man of the lond faste aȝen him is.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 188. It wole make hise heeris longe & make hem sitte faste.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 8 b. Persones that … stycke fast in theyr owne blynde fantasy.
1535. Coverdale, Ps. xxxiii. 9. For … loke what he commaundeth, it stondeth fast.
1563–87. Foxe, A. & M. (1684), III. 112. Whose faith may be the faster fixed on Gods verity.
1566. T. Stapleton, Ret. Untr. Jewel, I. 37. He sitteth so fast upon the bare wordes.
1611. Bible, 1 Cor. xvi. 13. Stand fast in the faith.
1726. Shelvocke, Voy. round World (1757), 202. Their fire had little or no effect. All stood fast with us.
1777. H. Gates, in Sparks, Corr. Amer. Rev. (1853), I. 548. But how could Sir John get back, if he should meet with a check? I have seen the Mohawk River fast frozen on the 10th of November.
1789. Cowper, Ann. Mem., 1789. 45.
| The symbol of a righteous reign | |
| Sat fast on George’s brows again. |
1815. Scott, Paul’s Lett. (1839), 124. Stand fast, 95th … we must not be beat.
1843. Macaulay, Lays Anc. Rome, Virginia.
| No cries were there, but teeth set fast, low whispers and black frowns, | |
| And breaking up of benches, and girding up of gowns. |
1879. F. W. Robinson, Coward Conscience, I. i. Stick fast to the hand-rail.
b. To sleep fast: to sleep soundly.
(For fast asleep see FAST a. 1 e.)
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 201. Sume men slapeð faste and sume nappeð.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 2780. In eiþer [stone] a dragon · þer inne slepe vaste.
c. 1381. Chaucer, Parl. Foules, 94. Tooke rest, that made me to slope faste.
1483. Caxton, G. de la Tour, F viij. Whyle he fast slept she cutte awey the heerys of his heede.
1557. K. Arthur (W. Copland), VI. i. So syr Launcelot slepte passyng fast.
1667. Milton, P. L., IX. 182.
| Him fast sleeping soon he found | |
| In labyrinth of many a round, self-rolled. |
1758. Johnson, Let., 9 Jan. I must have indeed slept very fast not to have been awakened by your letter.
1819. Byron, Juan, II. xcix.
| The day before, fast sleeping on the water, | |
| They found a turtle of the hawk’s-bill kind. |
1844. Mrs. Browning, Sonnets, Comfort, 13.
| Till, sinking on her breast, love-reconciled, | |
| He sleeps the faster that he wept before. |
† c. Expressing fixity of attention, effort, or purpose: Earnestly, steadily, diligently, zealously.
c. 1200. Ormin, 9241.
| Menn himm sohhtenn fasste to, | |
| Forr himm to seon & herenn. |
c. 1300. Havelok, 2148. Þanne bihelden he him faste.
c. 1325. Poem Times Edw. II., 57.
| The clerkes of the cuntré wolen him faste wowe, | |
| And senden him faire ȝiftes and presentes i-nowe. |
1375. Barbour, Bruce, I. 41.
| Till that the barnage at the last | |
| Assemblyt thaim, and fayndyt fast | |
| To cheyss a king thar land to ster. | |
| Ibid. IV. 616. | |
| Eftyr the fyr he lukyt fast. |
14[?]. Tundale’s Vis., 2053.
| Tundale lystenyd fast and logh | |
| And thoght that was joy ynoght. |
c. 1430. Syr Tryam., 65.
| But than syr Marrok, hys steward, | |
| Was faste abowtewarde | |
| To do hys lady gyle. |
1533. Bellenden, Livy, V. (1822), 413. The army at Veos desirit fast to have thare money for thare wageis.
1535. Coverdale, Judith x. 23. She loked fast vpon him, & fell downe vpon the earth.
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., V. ii. 21.
| Yorke. With thy brave bearing should I be in love, | |
| But that thou art so fast mine enemie. |
1644. Milton, Areop. (Arb.), 69. Others as fast reading, trying all things, attenting to the force of reason and convincement.
† d. Expressing vigour in action: Stoutly, strongly, vigorously. Obs.
1297. R. Glouc. (1724), 399. Hii … bysegede þe cyte, & asaylede vaste.
c. 1320. Sir Tristr., 2783.
| Tristrem as aman, | |
| Fast he gan to fiȝt. |
1375. Barbour, Bruce, XIII. 128.
| That, be thai [presit], I vndirta, | |
| A little fastar, ȝhe sall se | |
| That thai discumfit soyn sall be. |
c. 1420. Anturs of Arth., xlvii.
| Fast he foundes atte his face, | |
| With a squrd kene. |
c. 1450. Myrc, 1627.
| Wepeþ faste and ys sory, | |
| And asketh ȝerne of mercy. |
1570. G. Buchanan, Chamæleon, Wks. (1892), 51. Albeit Chamæleon and all his quhelpis ragit neuir sa fast the contrait wes concludit.
2. With firm grasp, attachment, or adhesion; so I as not to permit of escape or detachment; tightly, securely. Often with bind, hold, etc. lit. and fig. See also HOLD v.
c. 888. K. Ælfred, Boeth., xxxv. § 2. Swiþe fæste to somne ȝelimed.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 103. Þe man þe halt faste his sinne … he is demd fro heuene to helle.
c. 1205. Lay., 15337. Þa wes Uortigerne væste ibunden.
c. 1220. Bestiary, 212. And feste ðe forðward fast at thin herte, ðat tu firmest higtes.
c. 1300. St. Brandan, 93. With bole huden stronge y-nou y-nailed therto faste.
c. 1340. Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 684. Þis es þe leef þat hanges noght faste.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 315. Þan take faste þe boon & drawe it to his place aȝen.
1480. Caxton, Chron. Eng., ccxlii. 283. Kyng Richard was deposed and had resyned his croune & his kyngdome and was kept fast in hold.
1542–3. Act 34–5 Hen. VIII., c. 6. Pinnes … such as shal … haue the heads soudered fast to the shanke.
1576. A. Fleming, A Panoplie of Epistles, 308. Something to hold fast, among many thinges that I haue read.
1596. Shaks., Merch. V., II. v. 53.
| Doe as I bid you, shut dores after you, fast binde, fast finde, | |
| A prouerbe neuer stale in thriftie minde. |
1667. Milton, P. L., VI. 543. Let each … gripe fast his orbed Shield.
1685. Lond. Gaz., No. 2095/3. All the Ships in the Downs Ride fast.
1771. Mrs. Griffith, trans. Viaud’s Shipwreck, 31. Clinging fast to the side of our vessel.
1816. J. Wilson, City of Plague, II. iii. 290. Fear binds us fast to guilt.
1838. Thirlwall, Greece, II. 306. Before they embarked, Themistocles addressed them in a speech, the substance of which, as Herodotus reports it, was simply to set before them, on the one side, all that was best, on the other, all that was worst, in the nature and the condition of man, and to exhort them to choose and hold fast the good.
1850. Mrs. Browning, Rom. of Page, xxiii.
| In the dark chambèere, if the bride was fair, | |
| Ye wis, I could not see, | |
| But the steed thrice neighed, and the priest fast prayed, | |
| And wedded fast were we. |
† b. fig. Of a command or prohibition: Strictly.
c. 1310. St. Swithin, 76, in E. E. P. (1862), 45.
| His men faste he bad | |
| Þat hi ne scholde him burie noȝt in churche. |
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., B. 1147. To defowle hit euer vpon folde fast he for-bedes.
1535. Coverdale, Jer. xxxv. 14. The wordes which Ionadab the sonne off Rechab commaunded his sonnes, yt they shuld drynke no wyne, are fast & surely kepte: for vnto this daye they drynke no wyne: but obeye their fathers commaundement.
† c. Of defence or concealment: Securely. Obs.
1481. Bk. St. Albans, E iv b. In moore or in moos he hidyth hem fast.
1535. Coverdale, 2 Macc. xii. 13. Iudas, wente also vnto a cite, which was very fast kepte with brydges, fensed rounde aboute with walles, & dyuerse kyndes of people dwellinge therin, called Caspin.
d. With passive notion: So as to be unable to move. To stick fast: often fig. to be nonplussed, unable to get any further.
1526–34. Tindale, Acts xxvii. 41. The foore parte stucke fast and moved not, and the hynderparte brake with the violence of the waves.
1635. Laud, Wks. (1860), VII. 174. When he saw the man and his horse stuck fast in the quagmire.
1768. J. Byron, Narr. Patagonia, 14. We now run in between an opening of the breakers, steering by the sheets and braces, when providentially we stuck fast between two great rocks.
1847. Marryat, Childr. N. Forest, xxi. As they attempted to force their way where the snow was deeper, many of them stuck fast altogether, and attempted to clear themselves in vain.
1850. W. B. Clarke, Wreck of Favorite, 68. I found my limbs completely set fast from the intensity of the cold.
† e. quasi-int. (See quot.) Obs.
1720. Strype, in Stow’s Surv. Lond., I. xxix. 250/1. [The charter of the Fraternity of St. George, 1537, ordained] that in Case any Person were shot … by any of these Archers, he was not to be … molested, if he had immediately before he shot, used that common Word, Fast.
3. In a close-fitting manner; so as to leave no opening or outlet. Often with additional notion of security.
c. 1205. Lay., 15320. Þa ȝæten heo tunden uaste.
a. 1300. Cursor Mundi, 2788 (Trin.). Faste þe dores gon he bare.
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), ii. 7. Þe Iews scorned him and sett a coroun on his heued and thrast it þeron so fast þat þe blude ran doune by many placez of his visage and his neck and his schulders.
c. 1430. Two Cookery-bks., 27. Do it ouer þe fyre & hele it faste.
1600. J. Pory, trans. Leo’s Africa, II. 167. Each one of these cels is shut fast with a little doore.
1667. Milton, P. L., IV. 190.
| Of some rich Burgher, whose substantial dores, | |
| Cross-barrd and bolted fast, fear no assault. |
1781. Cowper, Hope, 658.
| While Bigotry, with well-dissembled fears, | |
| His eyes shut fast, his fingers in his ears. |
1850. Kingsley, Alt. Locke, xxxvii. Crossthwaite had kept his face fast buried in his hands.
1850. B. Taylor, Eldorado, iv. (1862), 36. I was told of four who entered one of the churches with their hats pulled fast over their brows, and, marching deliberately up the aisle, severally lighted their cigars at the four tapers of the altar.
1854. H. Miller, Footpr. Creat., i. (1874), 2. On this granitic axis—fast jammed in between a steep hill and the sea—stands the town of Stromness.
4. Of proximity; lit. and fig. Close, hard; very near. Now only in fast beside, fast by (arch. or poet.), and with vbs. expressing following, where the sense approaches 6.
c. 1275. Lay., 9. Faste by Radistone.
c. 1335. Song Yesterday, 68, in E. E. P. (1862), 135. To-ward vr ende we drawe ful fast.
a. 1340. Cursor Mundi, 15782 (Trin.).
| Wiþ þat word þat ihesus seide: | |
| þei bigon to awake | |
| And him faste aboute biset. |
c. 1400. Maundev. (1839), xxi. 228. The See that touched & was fast to the mount.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 326. Ther were fyldes full faire fast þere besyde.
c. 1420. Palladius on Husb., VIII. 169. If Aust be fast nygh September.
c. 1425. Seven Sag., 3009 (P.). Faste by hym he hyr sete.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531). Whiche worlde … decaynge draweth fast to an ende.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. xii. 25.
| But he for nought would stay his passage right, | |
| Till fast before the king he did alight. |
1603. Knolles, Hist. Turks (1621), 1117. A mill fast without the town.
1667. Milton, P. L., II. 725.
| Had not the Snakie Sorceress that sat | |
| Fast by Hell Gate. |
1679–1714. Burnet, Hist. Ref., I. II. 48. Lautrech with the French army lay still fast about Bononia.
1704. Pope, Windsor Forest, 313.
| Here o’er the Martyr King the Marble weeps, | |
| And fast beside him, once-fear’d Edward sleeps. |
1729. Savage, Wanderer, V. 399.
| Behind yon western Hill the Globe of Light | |
| Drops sudden; fast-pursued by Shades of Night. |
1790. Beatson, Nov. & Mil. Mem., 394. Which brought the vessels in our rear fast up.
1801. Wordsw., Cuckoo & Nightingale, xx.
| And, as I with the Cuckoo thus ’gan chide, | |
| In the next bush that was me fast beside, | |
| I heard the lusty Nightingale so sing, | |
| That her clear voice made a loud rioting. |
1821. Keats, Lamia, 17.
| Fast by the springs where she to bathe was wont, | |
| And in those meads where sometime she might haunt, | |
| Were strewn rich gifts, unknown to any Muse. |
1869. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), III. xi. 72. Fast on its appearance had followed the troubles of the reign of … Eadward.
b. Fast upon or on: near upon (a specified quantity). Cf. Ger. fast almost. Obs. exc. dial.
1583. Golding, Calvin on Deut. xxx. 177. After he had gone about with them a fortie yeres or fast vpon it.
1600. Holland, Livy, XXIX. 735. So there were environed, intercepted, and killed in the place together with Hanno himselfe the Generall, fast upon a thousand.
1869. Peacock, Lonsdale Gloss. ‘I gev fast on ten pounds for her’ = Very near ten pounds.
† 5. Closely, at once, immediately. As fast as: as soon as (cf. 6). Obs.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 823 (Gött.).
| Als fast as þai had don þat sinne, | |
| Bigan all vr baret to biginne. |
c. 1386. Chaucer, Can. Yeom. Prol. & T., 552.
| And whan he cometh, as fast schul ye see | |
| A wonder thing, which ye saugh never er this. |
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 3944. Þan come a fliȝtir in of fowls, as fast as it dawid.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 322. It is necessarie as faste þat a mannes rigboon is out of þe joynct þat it be brouȝt yn aȝen anoon.
1428. Surtees Misc. (1890), 9. Was done afterwarde als her fast folowys.
c. 1440. Lay Folks Mass Bk. (MS. C.), 56. Say a paternoster and an ave fast þereon.
1645. Hammond, Pract. Catechism, I. iii. 50. He … gave evidence of his fidelity as fast as occasions were offered.
1724. R. Falconer, Voy. (1769), 231. My Opinion was to execute it as fast as ever we could, for fear of any Accident that might happen.
1782. Cowper, Gilpin, 117.
| And still, as fast as he drew near, | |
| ’Twas wonderful to view | |
| How in a trice the turnpike-men | |
| Their gates wide open threw. |
6. Quickly, rapidly, swiftly.
For the development of this sense from the primary sense ‘firmly,’ cf. 1 d, 4, 5, and expressions like ‘to run hard.’ It does not appear that this sense is recorded in OE., but it belongs to MHG. vaste, ON. fast.
c. 1205. Lay., 7986.
| He warnede alle his cnihtes | |
| & to scipen ferden, | |
| & fusden an veste. |
1297. R. Glouc. (1724), 401. Þo be Cristyne yt vnderȝete, aȝen hii wende vaste.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 3866 (Cott.).
| It was ferli in þat siquar | |
| How fast þai multiplid þar. |
c. 1340. Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 4003.
| Takens, war-thurgh he may understande, | |
| Þat þe day of dome es fast comande. |
c. 1450. Life of St. Cuthbert (Surtees), 7437. I prayde my felowes fast to ryde.
1548. Hall, Chron., 113 b. The Frenchemen … fled into the toune so faste, that one letted the other to entre.
1585. J. B., trans. P. Viret’s Sch. Beastes, B viij b. Men doo not so fast breake them, as she repaireth and amendeth them.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., VI. 298. The Camell … hath a most slow and lazy pace … neither can he goe faster although he would.
1688. J. Smith, Baroscope, 71. As soon as these High Winds cease to blow, the Mercury then generally Rises very fast of a sudden.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe (1840), I. xv. 268. I found he … would make it go almost as swift and fast again as I could.
1776. Adam Smith, W. N., I. xi. (1869), I. 264. The rate of profit … is … highest in the countries which are going fastest to ruin.
1814. Scott, Ld. of Isles, II. xiii. Barendoun fled fast away.
1876. Trevelyan, Macaulay, II. vii. 2. During the months that his children were on their homeward voyage his health was breaking fast; and before the middle of May he died, without having again seen their faces.
1893. Sir L. W. Cave, in Law Times, XCV. 26/1. The frequent applications to commit for contempt of court are fast bringing the law itself into contempt.
b. In quick succession; one close upon another.
1591. Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., III. i. 82.
| The Bishop and the Duke of Glosters men … | |
| Doe pelt so fast at one anothers Pate, | |
| That many haue their giddy braynes knockt out. | |
| Ibid. (1610), Temp., I. ii. 281. | |
| Where thou didst vent thy groanes | |
| As fast as Mill-wheeles strike. |
1647. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., I. (1843), 22/2. His honours had grown faster upon him than his fortunes.
1771. Mrs. Griffith, trans. Viaud’s Shipwreck, 169. My tears fell faster than his.
a. 1822. Shelley, Song for Tasso, 12. My thoughts come fast.
c. Readily, with alacrity. Obs. exc. in colloq. phrase fast enough.
c. 1420. Anturs of Arth., xviii.
| Thou dele fast of thi gode, | |
| To tho that fales the fode. |
c. 1477. Caxton, Jason, 30. They sette hem in araye and toke their sheldes haunced their swerdes and attended frely and fast a fote.
1553. T. Wilson, Rhet. (1580), 2. The one affirmyng for his parte, and the other deniyng as faste againe for his parte.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., IV. i. 69. Hee teaches him to hic, and to hac; which they’ll doe fast enough of themselues.
1642. Milton, An Apology for Smectymnuus (1851), 314. I cannot but admire as fast what they think is become of judgement, and tast in other men.
Mod. He would do it fast enough, if you paid him for it.
7. To live fast: a. to expend quickly one’s vital energy; b. to live a dissipated life. Cf. FAST a. 10.
a. 1700. Dryden, Char. Good Parson, 9.
| Of sixty years he seem’d; and well might last | |
| To sixty more, but that he liv’d too fast. |
1711. Shaftesb., Charac. (1737), II. 126–7. As if they liv’d the fastest who took the greatest Pains to enjoy least of Life.
1851. Carpenter, Man. Phys. (ed. 2), 78. Cold-blooded animals live much faster (so to speak) at high temperatures, than at low; so that they die much sooner, when deprived of other vital stimuli.
b. 1699. T. Brown, Colloq. Erasm., iv. 26. Living very fast, as they say, [he] has brought his Noble to Ninepence.
1754. World, 19 Sept., ¶ 2. He has lived rather fast formerly.
1820. W. Irving, Sketch Bk., J. Bull (1865), 389. They fear he has lived too fast.
8. Comb. with ppl. adjs. and (rarely) vbl. sbs.
a. (sense 1) as fast-dyed, -grounded, -rooted (whence fast-rootedness), settled, ppl. adjs.
1541. Coverdale, Old Faith, ix. The only true, old, undoubted, and fast-grounded faith.
1587. Golding, De Mornay, Ep. Ded., 1. In the world we see a stedie and fast-setled order, and euery creature to do seruice in his sort.
1832. Tennyson, Lotos-Eaters, 83.
| The flower ripens in its place, | |
| Ripens and fades, and falls, and hath no toil, | |
| Fast-rooted in the fruitful soil. |
1853. Lynch, Self-Improv., ii. 31. Let him not expect that he can eradicate with one pull of his, even if he can with any pull or any succession of pulls, errors that have in the human heart the fast-rootedness of religious vitality.
1888. Daily News, 19 Nov., 2/7. The fast-dyed black goods retain their popularity.
b. (sense 2) as fast-anchored, -bound, -plighted ppl. adjs.; † fast-fancied, attached firmly by fancy.
1580. Baret, Alv., F 181. Fast bound or tied, religatus.
c. 1590. Greene, Fr. Bacon, v. 79. Thou com’st in post from merry Fressingfield Fast-fancied to the Keepers bonny lass.
1627. Drayton, Agincrt., ccxxviii. 2032. His fast-plighted troth.
1633. Ford, ’Tis Pity, V. v. Our fast-knit affections.
1784. Cowper, Task, II. 150.
| What then!—were they the wicked above all, | |
| And we the righteous, whose fast-anchor’d isle | |
| Moved not, while theirs was rock’d, like a light skiff, | |
| The sport of every wave? |
1814. Byron, Hebr. Mel., Destr. Jerusalem, ii.
| I beheld but the death-fire that fed on thy fane, | |
| And the fast-fettered hands that made vengeance in vain. |
1823. Scott, Peveril, III. iii. 56. The darbies are the fetlocks—the fast-keepers my boy—the bail for good behaviour.
1842. Manning, Serm., xxv. (1848), 382. There still remains with us a fast-cleaving and mysterious evil.
1871. B. Taylor, Faust (1875), II. III. 193.
| Instead of solemn greeting, as beseems, | |
| Or reverential welcome, bring I thee, | |
| Fast-bound in welded fetters, here, the knave | |
| Whose duty slighted cheated me of mine. |
c. (sense 3) as fast-closed, -shut, ppl. ndjs.
1595. Shaks., John, II. i. 447. Our fast closed gates.
a. 1649. Drumm. of Hawth., Poems, Wks. (1711), 18.
| And thus in end unto myself I weave | |
| A fast-shut prison, no, but even a grave. |
d. (sense 6) as fast-sailing, vbl. sb.; fast-falling, -going, -sailing, etc., ppl. adjs.
1593. Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., I. iv. 162.
| Euen my Foes will shed fast-falling Teares. | |
| Ibid. (1593), Rich. II., III. iv. 34. | |
| Goe thou, and like an Executioner | |
| Cut off the heads of too fast growing sprayes. |
1622. Drayton, Poly-olb., xxiii. 187. A good fast feeding grass, most strongly that doth breed.
1757. Dyer, Fleece, IV. 603.
| Fast-gath’ring tempests rous’d | |
| Huge ocean, and involv’d him. |
1800. Nelson, in Nicolas, Disp., IV. 200. A fast-sailing Polacca of about 70 Tons.
1820. Scoresby, Acc. Arctic Reg., II. 338. Success in the fishery has some dependance on the suitable equipment of the ships employed in the trade,—on a sufficient apparatus,—and frequently, in no inconsiderable degree, on that valuable property of a ship, called fast-sailing.
1820. Keats, Ode to Nightingale, 49. Fast-fading violets cover’d up in leaves.
a. 1822. Shelley, Bigotry, I. 3. The fast-fleeting hind.
1822. in Cobbett, Rur. Rides (1885), I. 96. The fast-sinking Old Times newspaper.
a. 1835. Mrs. Hemans, Penitent’s Offering, Poems (1875), 496. That fast-flowing rain of tears.
1870. Dickens, E. Drood, ii. The fast-darkening scene.
1892. Pall Mall G., 12 Oct., 5/1. The fast-going autumn.
