fast

Meanings

1. 1
   adv

   quickly or rapidly, which is often used as a combining form

   How fast can they get here?

2. 2
   adv

   firmly or closely

   held fast to the rope

3. 3
   adj

   (of a photographic lens or emulsion) causing a shortening of exposure time

   a fast lens

4. 4
   adj

   acting or moving or capable of acting or moving quickly

   fast film

5. 5
   adj

   at a rapid tempo

   the band played a fast fox trot

6. 6
   adj

   indicating a time ahead of or later than the correct time

   My watch is always fast.

7. 7
   adj

   resistant to destruction or fading

   fast colors

8. 8
   adj

   (of surfaces) conducive to rapid speeds

   a fast road

Etymology

From Middle English fasten, from Old English fæstan (“to fast”), from Proto-West Germanic *fastēn, from Proto-Germanic *fastāną (“to fast”), from the same root as Proto-Germanic *fastijaną (“to fasten”), derived from *fastuz, and thereby related to Etymology 1. The religious sense is presumably introduced in the Gothic church, from Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌽 (fastan, “hold fast (viz. to the rule of abstinence)”). This semantic development is unique to Gothic, the term glosses Greek νηστεύω (nēsteúō), Latin ieiuno which do not have similar connotations of "holding fast". The feminine noun Old High German fa…