[The adj. used absol. or ellipt.] Something that is fast or fixed; spec. (see quots.).
1836. Polwhele, Corn.-Eng. Voc., 76, Fast. The fast is the understratum supposed never to have been moved or broken up since the creation.
1853. Kane, Grinnell Exp., xiv. (1856), 102–3. Forming an icy margin or beach, known technically as the ‘land ice,’ or ‘the fast.’
1883. Gresley, Coal-Mining Gloss., Fast, the first hard bed of rock met with after sinking through running sand or quick ground.
