fast1 (fast)

and n. [Also dial. fest; For never wight so fast in sell could sit, But him perforce unto the ground it bore. Spenser, F. Q., III. iii. 60. 2. Strong against attack; fortified. Wel he makede his castles treo we and swidhe væste. Layamon, ii. 71. Robbers and outlaws. lurking in woods and fast places. Spenser , State of Ireland. 3. Fixed in such a way as to prevent detachment, separation, removal, or escape; tight; secure; close; not loose nor easily detachable: as, take a fast hold; make fast the door; make fast a rope. Used elliptically in whaling, in exclamation, to indicate that the harpoon has pierced the whale, and that the boat is thus fast to it. Neither the sum that containes him, nor the particularities descending from him, giue any fast handle to their carping disprayse. Sir P. Sidney, Apol. for Poetrie. 'Tis true, they have us fast , we cannot scape 'em. Fletcher, Humorous Lieutenant, iii. 6. Be sure to find, What I foretold thee, many a hard a ay Ere thou of Israel's sceptre get fast hold. Milton , P. R., iv. 480. IMG:content-1118.png:[blocks in formation] the target, and directing him to stand fast, or remain where he is. He that shot the arrow was not to be sued or molested, if he had, immediately before the discharge of the weapon, cried out " fast , " the signal usually given upon such occasions. You shall finde me as fast a Frend to you and yours as perchance any you haue. Ascham, The Scholemaster, p. 20. Stowe , quoted in Strutt's Sports and Pastimes, p. 120. In heart they are neither fast to God nor man. Purchas , Pilgrimage, p. 343. 3t. Strongly; vehemently; greatly; hard. The child weped al-way wonderliche fast. William of Palerne (E. E. T. S.), 1. 345. 5. Tenacious; not fugitive; durable; lasting; permanent in tint: as, fast colors; fast to mill- ing or to washing (said of colors, or of mate- 4. Tenaciously; durably; permanently. rials which will not change color under those operations). Roses, damask and red, are fast flowers of their smells. Bacon, Gardens. See here, my child, how fresh the colours look, How fast they hold, like colours of a shell. Tennyson, Geraint. 51. Eagerly. He toke hym to his tent, talket with hym fast ; Fraynet at the freike of his fell dedis. Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 7915. 7. In use; not to be had. Hall i well . [Prov. Eng.]-Fast and loose. (a) A cheating game practised at fairs by gipsies and sharpers, now called prick the gar- ter , or prick at the loop . A belt or strap having been dou- bled and rolled up, with the double or loop in the center, is laid on its edge on a board or table; the dupe is then in- duced to bet that he can catch the double or loop with a skewer while the belt or strap is unrolled, but the sharp- er draws it out in such a way as to make this impo ible. Hence, to play fast and loose is to say one thing and do another; be slippery, inconstant, or unreliable. Like a right gipsy, hath, at fast and loose , Beguil'd me to the very heart of lo . But, if you use these knick-knacks, This fast and loose , with faithful men and honest, You'll be the first will find it. Fletcher, Loyal Subject, ii. 1. Sume men slapeth faste , and sume nappeth. Old Eng. Homilies (ed. Morris), II. 201. He most comfortably inc our aged them to follow their worke, many of them being fast asleepe. Quoted in Capt . John Smith's Works, II. 120. 7. Close; near: as, fast by; fast beside. See below. - Fast by or fast beside, close or near to; hard by. Faste besyde is another yle. Mandeville, Travels, p. 187. Gawein caught Gringa let be the bridell, and ledde hym to a grove ther faste by of half a myle. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 513. Fast by the throne obsequious Fame resides. Pope . Balin's horse Tennyson , Balin and Balan. Was fast beside an alder. Shak ., A. and C., iv. 10. fast1 (fast), v. t. [ fasten , festen , make fast, fix, fasten, fast an (comp.ge-, be - fas- tan ) (usually in the form fæstnian : see fasten1 ), fasten (= OS. festian , make fast, = D. vesten , surround with a wall, = OHG. fast an , fest an , MHG. vesten , make fast, = Icel. festa = Sw. fästa Dan. fæste , make fast, fasten, fix), fæst , fast, fixed: see fastl , a . The Goth. fas- tan means only 'keep, hold, observe,' and is appar. identical with fast an , fast, abstain from food: see fast3 .] 1. To make fast; fix; fasten. Thus sall I feste it fast. York Plays , p. 43. (b) The game of prison-bars or prisoner's-base. [Prov. Eng.] -Fast-and-loose pulleys, two pulleys of the same diameter placed side by side on a shaft, the one rigidly fixed to the shaft, the other loose. The shaft is driven from a main shaft by a band pa ed over the fixed pulley, and when the pulley-shaft is to be stopped the band is shifted to the pulley.- Fast blue, brown, red, etc. See the nouns.- Fast boat, in whaling, a boat attached by its whale-line to a harpoon embedded in a whale: opposed to loose boat. - Fast colors. See color. Fast fish, in whaling, a whale made fast to a boat by the tow-line. Also fast whale. See fast boat. - Fast yellow. Same as acid - yellow. Hard and fast. See hard. - To make fast. ( a ) To fasten: as, to make fast the door or the shutter. (b) Naut., to belay: as, to make fast a rope. - To play fast and loose. See fast and loose, above. II. n. [ fast , a. The naut. sense is Scand.: ME. fest , Icel. festr , mod. fest i , a rope, cord, cable, skut - festr , stern-fast, stafn - festr , stem fast, bjarg - festr , estr , life-line, etc.] 1. That which fastens or holds. Specifically ( naut . ), a rope or chain by which a ve el is moored to a wharf, pier, etc.: named bow-, head- , quarter , stern , or breast - fast , according to the part of the ve el to which it is attached. By the breast-fast the ve el is secured broadside to the wharf or pier. 2. Immovable shore-ice. The fast , as the whalers call the immovable shore-ice, could be seen in a nearly unbroken sweep, pa ing by Bushnell's Island, and joining the coast not far from where I stood. Kane , Sec. Grinn. Exp., II. 279. 3. An underlayer; an understratum. Wright. [Prov. Eng.] fast1 (fast), adv. [ sleeping, soundly; in reference to place, near, close, in adv. phrase faste by, faste besyde (these two uses being Scand.: cf. Icel. sofa fast, be fast asleep; leita fast eptir (lit. seek close after, 'lait after'), pre hard, legja fast at, close with one (in a sea-fight), etc.; cf. hard in a similar use, hard by, hard upon ), Hi leten hem digte a gret schip, and above hit al bicaste With bole huden [bull-hides] stronge ynou ynailed therto faste . St. Brand an (ed. Wright), p. 5. Yet shalt thou have a sign; and I will fast Seal 't on thy faithle Tongue which asked it. J. Beaumont, Psyche, iii. 97. The busine , the pleasure, or the amusement we left, sticks fast to us; and perhaps engro es that heart for a time, which should then be taken up altogether in spiritual addre es. Bp. Atterbury, Sermons, II. xxi. 2. In archery, used elliptically for stand fast, or some similar injunction. in cautioning a person against pa ing between the shooter and Thanne rede I that we no lenger stande, But ilke man feste on hym a hande, And harle hym hense in hye. York Plays, p. 348. That it were boundyn in cloth is and fastid with smale lynnen cloth is. Wyclif , Ezek. xxx. 21 (Oxf.). Specifically -2t. To join in marriage; marry. That they schulde faste hur with no fere, But he were prynce or pryneys pere. MS . Cantab. Ff . ii . 38, f. 75. (Hall i well.) He is sori of his lif That is fast [fasted] to such a wif. Early Eng . Poems (ed. Furnivall), p. 155. fast2 (fast), adv . [ faste , swiftly, quickly, a particular use of the adv. jaste , firmly, strongly, powerfully, due to Scand. influence: cf. Icel. adv. fast (neut. of fastr , a.) in fylgja fast , follow fast, eldask fast , age fast, drekka fast , drink hard, etc., = ODan. fast , much, swiftly, at once, near to, almost, yet, even though, = Sw. fast , nearly, almost, though, although: same as fast , adv . See fast1 , adv . The E. adj. fast2 , quick, is from the adv. With fast , fixed and fast, quick, ef. G. fix , fast, fixed, also fast, quick, nimble, ready, = Dan. fix , fixed, colloq. smart, quick, fix us , fixed.] Swiftly; rapidly; quickly; with quick motion or in rapid succe ion: as, to run fast ; to move fast through the water, as a ship; the work goes on fast ; it rains fast ; the blows fell thick and fast . Faster than spring-time showers comes thought on thought. Shak., 2 Hen. VI., iii. 1. Our lo is trifling; for many of the rebels fled as fast as the glorious dragoons. Walpole , Letters, II. 3. But as fast as the experiences increase in number, complexity, and variety; and as fast as there develop the faculties for grasping the representations of them in all their width, and multiplicity, and diversity; so fast does thought become le restricted to the established channels. H. Spencer , Prin. of Psychol., § 492. When we reached Travemünde it was snowing fast , and a murky chaos beyond the sandy bar concealed the Baltic. B. Taylor , Northern Travel, p. 14. To live fast, to be prodigal and wasteful; live so as to consume or exhaust the vital powers or resources quickly. fast2 (fast), a. [Not found as adj. in ME.; speed: as, a fast horse; a fast cruiser; a fast printing-pre . The old Lapp woman, Elsa, who had been sent for, drove up in her pulk, behind a fast reindeer. B. Taylor, Northern Travel, p. 108. 2. Done or accomplished with celerity; speedily performed; occupying comparatively little time: as, a fast pa age or journey; a fast race; fast work.-3. Being in advance of a standard; too far ahead: used of timepieces and reckonings of time: as, the clock or watch is fast , or ten minutes fast ; your time is fast . Mean time is given in most calendars and almanacs, frequently under the headings "clock slow," "clock fast." Encyc. Brit., VII. 154. 4. Furnishing or concerned with rapid transportation: as, a fast train; a fast -freight line; a fast route; a fast station. As it was not a " fast " station, we were subject to the po ibility of waiting two or three hours for horses. B. Taylor , Northern Travel, p. 245. 5. Eager in the pursuit of pleasure or frivolity; devoted to pleasure and gayety; di ipated: as, a fast liver; a fast man; a fast life. When applied to a woman, it commonly indicates that she does not abide by strict rules of propriety, imitates the manners or habits of a man, etc. Catullus was the most brilliant fast man of antiquity, and can be compared to nothing but Apollo out on the loose. Hannay , Singleton Fontenoy, i. 4. A fast young woman, with the lavish ornament and somewhat overpowering perfume of the dem i-monde. Lowell, Study Windows, p. 212. A fast man is not nece arily (like the London fast man) a rowing man, though the two attributes are often combined in the same person; he is one who dre es flashily, talks big, and spends, or affects to spend, money very freely. C. A. Bristed, English University, p. 39. Oh, there is a fast enough life at some of the hotels in the summer. C. D. Warner, Their Pilgrimage, p. 333. Fast freight, freight or merchandise forwarded at once and with special haste.