Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SPEED, v.t.

1. To dispatch; to send away in haste. He sped him thence home to his habitation. – Fairfax.
2. To hasten; to hurry; to put in quick motion. But sped his steps along the hoarse resounding shore. – Dryden.
3. To hasten to a conclusion; to execute; to dispatch; as, to speed judicial acts. – Ayliffe.
4. To assist; to help forward; to hasten. With rising gales that sped their happy flight. – Dryden.
5. To prosper; to cause to succeed. May heaven speed this undertaking.
6. To furnish in haste.
7. To dispatch; to kill; to ruin; to destroy. With a speeding thrust his heart he found. – Dryden. A dire dilemma! either way I'm sped! / If foes, they write, if friends they read me dead. – Pope. Note. In the phrase, “God speed,” there is probably gross mistake in considering it as equivalent to “may God give you success.” The true phrase is probably “good speed;” good in Saxon, being written god. I bid you or wish you good speed, that is, good success.