Speed , v. t. 1. To
cause to be
successful, or to prosper; hence, to aid;
to favor. "Fortune speed us!" Shak.
With rising gales that speed their happy flight.
Dryden.
2. To cause to make
haste; to dispatch with celerity; to drive at full
speed; hence, to hasten; to
hurry.
He sped him thence home to his habitation.
Fairfax.
3. To hasten to a conclusion; to expedite.
Judicial acts . . . are sped in open court at
the instance of one or both of the
parties.
Ayliffe. 4. To hurry to destruction; to put an end to; to ruin; to undo. "Sped with spavins."
Shak.
A dire dilemma! either way I
'm sped.
If foes, they write, if friends, they read, me
dead.
Pope. 5. To wish success or god fortune to, in any undertaking, especially in setting out upon a journey.
Welcome the coming, speed the parting guest.
Pope. God speed you, them, etc., may God speed you; or, may you have good
speed.
Syn.
-- To dispatch; hasten; expedite; accelerate; hurry.
Speed (spēd), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Sped
(sp&ebreve;d), Speeded; p. pr. & vb. n.
Speeding.]
[AS. spēdan, fr. spēd, n.; akin to D. spoeden, G. sich sputen. See Speed, n.]
1. To go; to fare. [Obs.]
To warn him now he is too farre sped.
Remedy
of Love.
2. To experience in going; to have any condition, good or ill; to fare. Shak.
Ships heretofore in seas like fishes sped;
The mightiest still upon the smallest fed.
Waller. 3. To fare well;
to have success; to prosper.
Save London, and send true
lawyers their meed!
For whoso wants money with them shall not speed!
Lydgate. I told ye then
he should prevail, and speed
On his bad errand.
Milton.
4. To make haste; to move with
celerity.
I have speeded hither with the very extremest inch of possibility.
Shak.
5. To be expedient. [Obs.] Wyclif (2 Cor. xii. 1.)
Speed (?), n. [AS. sp&?;d success, swiftness, from sp&?;wan to succeed; akin to D.
spoedd, OHG. spuot success, spuot to succees,
Skr. sphā to increase, grow fat. √170b.]
1. Prosperity in an undertaking; favorable
issue; success. "For common speed." Chaucer.
O Lord God of my master
Abraham, I pray thee, send me
good speed this day.
Gen. xxiv. 12. 2. The act or state of moving swiftly; swiftness; velocity; rapidly; rate of motion; dispatch; as, the speed a horse or a vessel.
Speed, to
describe whose swiftness number
fails.
Milton. &fist; In kinematics, speedis sometimes used to denote the amount of velocity without regard to direction of motion, while velocity is not regarded as known unless both the direction and the amount are known.
3. One who, or that which, causes or promotes speed or success. [Obs.] "Hercules be thy speed!"
Shak.
God speed, Good speed; prosperity. See Godspeed. --
Speed gauge, Speed indicator, ∧ Speed recorder (Mach.), devices for indicating or recording the rate of a body's motion, as the number of
revolutions of a shaft in a given time. -- Speed lathe (Mach.),
a power lathe with a
rapidly revolving spindle, for turning small objects, for polishing, etc.; a hand lathe. -- Speed pulley, a cone pulley with steps.
Syn.
-- Haste; swiftness; celerity; quickness; dispatch; expedition; hurry; acceleration. See Haste.
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