Also 3–6 faste, Orm. fasste. [Early ME. faste, prob. a. ON. fasta (Da. faste, Sw. fasta), = OS. fasta, OHG. fasta (MHG. vaste), f. OTeut. fastêjan to FAST. The OE. synonym was fæsten: see FASTEN sb.]
1. An act or instance of fasting: a. as a religious observance, or as an expression of grief.
c. 1200. Ormin, 11329.
| All wiþþutenn mete & drinnch | |
| Heold Crist hiss fasste þære. |
a. 1300. Cursor M., 6523 (Cott.).
| But sum o þaim þis fast forsoke, | |
| And þai þis riche manna toke. |
c. 1400. Maundev. (1839), xii. 134. The seke men be not constreyned to þat fast.
1546. Langley, Pol. Verg. De Invent., VI. iii. 116 a. He kepeth not the true fast whyche forbeareth flesh, or forgoeth his supper.
1557. N. T. (Genev.), Acts xxvii. 9. Because also ye tyme of the Fast was now passed.
1633. Ford, ’Tis Pity, I. iii.
| I have even wearied Heaven with prayers, dried up | |
| The spring of my continual tears, even starv’d | |
| My veins with daily fasts. |
1700. S. L., trans. C. Fryke’s Voy. E. Ind., 350. We kept a Fast in our Ship, to beg God’s assistance in our Voyage.
1851. Ht. Martineau, Hist. Peace (1877), III. IV. xiv. 133. One of the most formidable riots of the time took place on the day appointed for a general fast, on account of the cholera—the 21st of March 1832.
1857. Buckle, Civiliz., I. viii. 515. The reformed clergy … appointed a public fast.
fig. a. 1300. Cursor M., 29030 (Cott.).
| Þe thrid es better þan þe twa | |
| Wit gastli fast all giltes for-ga. |
1545. Brinkelow, Compl., 57. The Scripture teacheth what true fast is, and how to fast … that is to say; To lett them out of bondage which be in danger … to deale thy bread to the hungry, [etc.]. [See Isa. lviii. 6.]
b. in general. To break (one’s) fast: see BREAK v. 9 c.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 151/1. Faste of abstynence, jejunium.
1669. Dryden, Tyrannic Love, II. i.
| Por. She’s gone unkindly, and refus’d to cast | |
| One glance to feed me for so long a fast. |
1671. Milton, P. R., II. 247.
| That fast | |
| To virtue I impute not. |
1843. Hood, The Song of the Shirt, v.
| I hardly fear his terrible shape, | |
| It seems to like my own— | |
| It seems so like my own, | |
| Because of the fasts I keep. |
† c. The action of fasting; abstinence from food. Also personified. Obs. rare.
[a. 1300, 1545: see 1 fig.]
1603. Shaks., Meas. for M., I. ii. 130.
| As surfeit is the father of much fast, | |
| So every scope by the immoderate use | |
| Turns to restraint. |
1632. Milton, Penseroso, 45.
| And join with thee calm Peace, and Quiet, | |
| Spare Fast, that oft with gods doth diet. |
1795. Montford Castle, I. 13. Ate with a voracity obviously the result of pining fast.
2. A day or season appointed for fasting.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 6569 (Cott.).
| Qua made þis calf, i wald þam kene, | |
| Qua held þe fast mang oþer men? |
1565. Calfhill, Answ. Treat. Crosse, v. 125 b. That whiche bred in the Church a miserable schisme for many years together, the Easter fast.
1611. Bible, Jonah iii. 5. The people of Nineueh beleeued God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them, euen to the least of them.
1732. Law, Serious C., i. (ed. 2), 13. He can talks of all the feasts and fasts of the Church, and knows the names of most men that have been eminent for Piety.
1847. S. Austin, Ranke’s Hist. Ref., III. 75. In March 1552, the people of Zürich broke the fast, and ate eggs and meat.
1852. Hawthorne, Blithedale Rom., xvi. (1883), 477. Except on … the Fourth of July, the autumnal cattle-show, Thanksgiving, or the annual Fast.
3. attrib. and Comb., as fast-book, -sermon; † fast-lost a., lost through a fast; fast-mass, Shrovetide; † fast-spittle = fasting-spittle; fast-week, Sc. the week preceding the celebration of the Sacrament, and including the fast-day. Also FAST-DAY, FAST-GONG.
1607. Shaks., Timon, II. ii. 180. Feast won, fast lost.
1637. Laud, Sp. Star-Chamb., 14 June, 20. The Prayer for seasonable weather was purged out of this last Fast-booke.
1681. Chetham, Angler’s Vade-m. (1689), 52. The stinging of Hornets is cured by Venice treakle taken inwardly, and applying outwardly Cow-dung and Fast-spittle.
1681. Wood, Life (Oxf. Hist. Soc.), II. 514. Mr. Birch … preached the fast sermon at S. Marie’s and swinged the phanaticques and prebyterians away.
1866. Chambers’ Encycl., s.v. Shrovetide, These days were sometimes called … Fast-mass.
1891. J. M. Barrie, Little Minister (1892), iii. 21. A garret in which the minister could sleep if he had guests, as during the Fast week.
