Emily Dickinson Lexicon

FAST, adv.

Firmly; immovably, We will bind thee fast and deliver thee into their hand. Judges xv. Fast by, or fast beside, close or near to. Fast by the throne obsequious fame resides. Pope.

FAST, n.

That which fastens or holds.

FAST, 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 feats with herbs. Taylor.
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 pest. Acts xxvii.

FAST, v.i. [Sax. fæstan, Goth. fastan, to fast, to keep, to observe, to hold; G. fasten; D. vast, firm; vasten, to fast; Sw. fasta; from the same root as fast, firm. The sense is to hold or stop.]

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. xii. When ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance. Matth. vi.
3. To abstain from food partially, or from particular kinds of food; as, the Romanists fast in Lent.

FAST-DAY, n.

The day on which fasting is observed.

FAS'TEN, v.i.

To fasten on, is to fix one's self; to seize and hold on; to clinch. The leech will hardly fasten on a fish. Brown.

FAS-TEN, v.t. [fàsn; Sax. fæstnian; Sw. fastna; D. vesten; Dan. fæster; Ir. fostugadh, fostughim.]

1. To fix firmly; to make fast or close; as, to fasten a chain to the feet, or to fasten the feet with fetters.
2. To lock, bolt or bar; to secure; as, to fasten a door or window.
3. To hold together; to cement or to link; to unite closely in any manner and by any means, as by cement, hooks, pins, nails, cords, &c.
4. To affix or conjoin. The words Whig and Tory have been pressed to the service of many successions of parties, with different ideas fastened to them. [Not common.] Swift.
5. To fix; to impress. Thinking, by this face, / To fasten in our thoughts that they have courage. Shak.
6. To lay on with strength. Could he fasten a blow, or make a thrust, when not suffered to approach? Dryden.

FAS'TEN-ED, pp.

Made firm or fast; fixed firmly; impressed.

FAS'TEN-ER, n.

One that makes fast or firm.

FAS'TEN-ING, n.

Any thing that binds and makes fast; or that which is intended for that purpose.

FAS'TEN-ING, ppr.

Making fast.

FAST'ER, adv.

More rapidly; swifter.

FAST'ER, n.

One who abstains from food.

FAST'EST, a.

Most swift or rapid.

FAST'EST, adv.

Most swiftly.

FAST'-HAND-ED, a.

Closehanded; covetous; closefisted; avaricious. Bacon.

FAS-TID-I-OS'I-TY, n.

Fastidiousness. [Not used.] Swift.

FAS-TID'I-OUS, a. [L. fastidiosus, from fastidio, to disdain, from fastus, haughtiness. See Heb. בוז. Class Bz, No. 2, 3, 10, 30.]

1. Disdainful; squeamish; delicate to a fault; over nice; difficult to please; as, a fastidious mind or taste.
2. Squeamish; rejecting what is common or not very nice; suited with difficulty; as, a fastidious appetite.

FAS-TID'I-OUS-LY, adv.

Disdainfully; squeamishly; contemptuously. They look fastidiously and speak disdainfully.

FAS-TID'I-OUS-NESS, n.

Disdainfulness; contemptuousness; squeamishness of mind, taste or appetite.

FAS-TIG'I-ATE, or FAS-TIG'I-A-TED, a. [L. fastigiatus, pointed, from fastigio, to point, fastigium, a top or peak.]

1. In botany, a fastigiate stem is one whose branches are of an equal highth. Peduncles are fastigiate, when they elevate the fructifications in a bunch, so as to be equally high, or when they form an even surface at the top. Martyn.
2. Roofed; narrowed to the top.

FAS-TIG'I-UM, n. [L.]

The summit, apex, or ridge of a house or pediment. Elmes.

FAST'ING, n.

The act of abstaining from food.

FAST'ING, ppr.

Abstaining from food.

FAST'ING-DAY, n.

A day of fasting; a fast-day; a day of religious mortification and humiliation.