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. Psa 115.
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, adv. Firmly; immovably.
We will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand. Judg 15.
F'AST, a. [L. 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, adv. 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, v.i.
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 Sam 12.
When ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance. Mat 6.
3. To abstain from food partially, or from particular kinds of food; as, the Catholics fast in Lent.
F'AST, n.
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.
F'AST, n. That which fastens or holds.
