Fast , a. In such a condition, as to resilience, etc., as to make possible unusual rapidity of play or action; as, a
fast racket, or tennis court; a fast track; a fast billiard table,
etc.
Fast , n. That which fastens or holds; especially,
(Naut.) a mooring rope, hawser, or chain; - - called, according to its position, a bow, head, quarter, breast, or stern fast; also, a post on a pier around which hawsers are passed in mooring.
Fast (?), adv. [OE. faste firmly, strongly, quickly, AS. fæste. See Fast, a.]
1. In a fast, fixed, or firmly established manner; fixedly; firmly; immovably.
We will bind
thee fast.
Judg. xv. 13. 2. In
a fast or rapid manner; quickly; swiftly; extravagantly; wildly;
as, to run
fast; to live fast.
Fast by, or Fast beside, close or near to; near at hand.
He, after Eve seduced, unminded slunk
Into the wood fast by.
Milton. Fast by the throne obsequious Fame resides.
Pope.
Fast , a.
[Compar. Faster (?);
superl. Fastest (?).]
[OE., firm, strong, not loose, AS.
f&?;st; akin to OS. fast, D. vast, OHG. fasti,
festi, G. fest,
Icel. fastr, Sw. & Dan. fast, and perh. to E. fetter. The sense swift comes from the idea of keeping close to what is
pursued; a Scandinavian use. Cf. Fast,
adv., Fast, v., Avast.]
1. Firmly fixed; closely adhering; made firm; not loose, unstable, or easily moved; immovable; as, to make
fast the door.
There is an order that keeps things fast.
Burke. 2. Firm against attack; fortified by nature or art; impregnable; strong.
Outlaws . . . lurking
in woods and fast places.
Spenser.
3. Firm in adherence; steadfast; not easily separated or alienated; faithful; as, a fast friend.
4. Permanent; not liable to fade by exposure to air or by washing; durable; lasting; as, fast colors.
5. Tenacious; retentive. [Obs.]
Roses,
damask and red, are fast flowers of their smells.
Bacon. 6. Not easily disturbed or broken; deep; sound.
All this while in a most fast sleep.
Shak.
7. Moving rapidly; quick in mition; rapid; swift; as, a
fast horse.
8. Given to pleasure seeking; disregardful of restraint; reckless; wild; dissipated; dissolute; as, a fast man; a fast liver.
Thackeray.
Fast and loose, now cohering, now disjoined; inconstant, esp. in the phrases to play at fast
and loose, to play fast
and loose, to act with giddy or reckless inconstancy or in a tricky manner; to say one thing and do
another. "Play fast and loose with faith." Shak. - - Fast
and loose pulleys
(Mach.), two pulleys placed side by side
on a revolving shaft, which is driven from another shaft by a band, and arranged to disengage and reëngage the machinery driven thereby. When the machinery is to be stopped, the band is transferred from the pulley fixed to the shaft
to the pulley which revolves freely upon it, and vice
versa. -- Hard and
fast (Naut.), so
completely aground as to be immovable. -- To make fast (Naut.),
to make secure; to fasten firmly, as a vessel, a rope, or a door.
Fast , n. [OE.
faste, fast; cf. AS. fæsten, OHG. fasta, G. faste. See Fast, v. i.]
1. Abstinence from food; omission to take nourishment.
Surfeit is the father of
much fast.
Shak. 2. Voluntary abstinence from food, for a space of time, as a spiritual discipline, or as a token of religious humiliation.
3.
A time of
fasting, whether a day, week, or
longer time; a period of abstinence from food or certain kinds of food; as, an annual fast.
Fast day, a day appointed for fasting, humiliation, and religious offices as a means of
invoking the favor of God. -- To break one's fast,
to put an
end to a period of abstinence by taking food; especially, to take one's morning meal; to breakfast.
Shak.
Fast (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Fasted;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Fasting.]
[AS. fæstan; akin to D. vasten, OHG. fastēn, G. fasten, Icel. & Sw.
fasta, Dan. faste, Goth. fastan to keep, observe, fast, and prob. to E. fast
firm.] 1. To
abstain from food; to omit
to take nourishment in whole or in part; to go hungry.
Fasting he went to sleep, and fasting
waked.
Milton. 2. 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.
Thou didst fast and weep for the
child.
2 Sam.
xii. 21. Fasting day, a fast day; a day of
fasting.
Hear it pronounced