fast

F'AST, adjective 1. Literally, set, stopped, fixed, or pressed close. Hence, close; tight; as, make fast the door; take fast hold. 2. Firm; immovable. Who by his strength, setteth fast the mountains. Psalms 115:1. 3. Close; strong. Robbers and outlaws - lurking in woods and fast places. 4. Firmly fixed; closely adhering; as, to stick fast in more; to make fast a rope. 5. Close, as sleep; deep; sound; as a fast sleep. 6. Firm in adherence; as a fast friend. Fast and loose, variable; inconstant; as, to play fast and loose. F'AST, adverb Firmly; immovably. We will bind thee fast and deliver thee into their hand. Judges 15:13. F'AST, adjective [Latin festino. The sense is to press, drive, urge, and it may be from the same root as the preceding word, with a different application.] Swift; moving rapidly; quick in motion; as a fast horse. F'AST, adverb Swiftly; rapidly; with quick steps or progression; as, to run fast; to move fast through the water, as a ship; the work goes on fast F'AST, verb intransitive 1. To abstain from food, beyond the usual time; to omit to take the usual meals, for a time; as, to fast a day or a week. 2. To abstain from food voluntarily, for the mortification of the body or appetites, or as a token of grief, sorrow and affliction. Thou didst fast and weep for the child. 2 Samuel 12:21. When ye fast be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance. Matthew 6:16. 3. To abstain from food partially, or from particular kinds of food; as, the Catholics fast in Lent. F'AST, noun 1. Abstinence from food; properly a total abstinence, but it is used also for an abstinence from particular kinds of food, for a certain time. Happy were our forefathers, who broke their fasts with herbs. 2. Voluntary abstinence from food, as a religious mortification or humiliation; either total or partial abstinence from customary food, with a view to mortify the appetites, or to express grief and affliction on account of some calamity, or to deprecate an expected evil. 3. The time of fasting, whether a day, week or longer time. An annual fast is kept in New England, usually one day in the spring. The fast was now already past. Acts 27:9. F'AST, noun That which fastens or holds.