Fast

(fast.) [Ger. fasten, to fast.] Occasional abstinence from food, on days appointed by public authority to be observed in fasting and humiliation. Solemn fasts have been observed in all ages and nations, especially in times of mourning and affliction. The Jews, besides their stated fast-days, occasionally enjoined others in the time of any public calamity. In the Roman Catholic Church, fasting differs from abstinence, in being a refraining for a certain time from all kinds of food. [s. 357]