fast

Meanings

Adjective

• Firmly or securely fixed in place; stable.
• Firm against attack; fortified by nature or art; impregnable; strong.
• Steadfast, with unwavering feeling. (Now mostly in set phrases like fast friend.)
• Moving with great speed, or capable of doing so; swift, rapid.
• Of a place, characterised by business, hustle and bustle, etc.
• Causing unusual rapidity of play or action.
• Able to transfer data in a short period of time.
• Deep or sound (of sleep); fast asleep (of people).
• Not running or fading when subjected to detrimental conditions such as wetness or intense light; permanent.
• Tenacious; retentive.
• Having an extravagant lifestyle or immoral habits.
• Ahead of the correct time or schedule.
• More sensitive to light than average.

Adverb

• In a firm or secure manner, securely; in such a way as not to be moved; safe, sound .
• Deeply or soundly .
• Immediately following in place or time; close, very near .
• Quickly, with great speed; within a short time .
• Ahead of the correct time or schedule.

Noun

• A train that calls at only some stations it passes between its origin and destination, typically just the principal stations
• The act or practice of abstaining from food or of eating very little food.
• The period of time during which one abstains from or eats very little food.

Interjection

• Short for "stand fast", a warning not to pass between the arrow and the target

Verb

• To restrict one’s personal consumption, generally of food, but sometimes other things, in various manners (totally, temporally, by avoiding particular items), often for religious or medical reasons.

Related

Similar words

• quick, rapid, speedy, swift

Opposite words

• slow

Narrower meaning words

• dharna

Origin

• From Middle English fast, from Old English fæst, from Proto-Germanic *fastaz, *fastijaz, *fastuz; see it for cognates and further etymology.
• The development of “rapid” from an original sense of “secure” apparently happened first in the adverb and then transferred to the adjective; compare hard in expressions like “to run hard”. The original sense of “secure, firm” is now slightly archaic, but retained in the related fasten.
• From Middle English fasten, from Old English fæstan (verb), from Proto-Germanic *fastijaną, derived from *fastuz, and thereby related to Etymology 1. Cognate with Dutch vasten, German fasten, Old Norse fasta, Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌽, Russian пост. The noun is probably from Old Norse fasta.