fast

adj

1. (dated)Firmly or securely fixed in place; stable.

   “That rope is dangerously loose. Make it fast!”

2. Firm against attack; fortified by nature or art; impregnable; strong.

   “out-lawes […] lurking in woods and fast places”

3. Steadfast, with unwavering feeling. (Now mostly in set phrases like fast friend(s).)

   “I still hear you sayin', "Dear one, hold me fast"”

4. Moving with great speed, or capable of doing so; swift, rapid; light.

   “I am going to buy a fast car.”

5. Moving with great speed, or capable of doing so; swift, rapid; light.

   “Plutonium-240 has a much higher fission cross-section for fast neutrons than for thermal neutrons.”

6. Of a place, characterised by business, hustle and bustle, etc.

   “Sydney is a fast city, and the pace is becoming increasingly more frantic.”

7. Causing unusual rapidity of play or action.

   “a fast racket, or tennis court”

   “a fast track”

   “a fast billiard table”

   “a fast dance floor”

8. Able to transfer data in a short period of time.

   “But at the microlevel it consists of an unimaginable number of atoms connected by springy chemical bonds, all jiggling around at a rate that even our fastest supercomputer might envy.”

9. Deep or sound (of sleep); fast asleep (of people).

   “Since his majesty went into the field, I have seen her rise from her bed, throw her nightgown upon her, unlock her closet, take forth paper, fold it, write upon’t, read it, afterwards seal it, and again return to bed; yet all this while in a most fast sleep.”

10. Not running or fading when subjected to detrimental conditions such as wetness or intense light; permanent.

    “All the washing has come out pink. That red tee-shirt was not fast.”

    “Mineral pigments were probably the first materials used for dyeing. They were generally not fast to water.”

    “Cochineal is remarkably fast on protein fibers, remaining brilliant and saturated despite exposure to sunlight and washing.”

11. (obsolete)Tenacious; retentive.

    “Roses, damask and red, are fast flowers of their smells.”

12. (dated)Having an extravagant lifestyle or immoral habits.

    “a fast woman”

    “[…] we remember once hearing a fast man suggest that they were evidently "nobs who had overdrawn the badger by driving fast cattle, and going it high" — the exact signification of which words we did not understand […]”

    ““I don’t like that young woman,” said Lady Hermione; she’s fast.” “Dear Lady!” “I’ve no doubt you think me old-fashioned. Well, I’m glad I am. I say she’s fast, and what’s more, heartless. I was watching her before supper, and I’m sorry for Tony Lee. She’s been flirting as hard as she can go with Harry Vibart-not to give it a worse name-and she’s got Jim Playfair on a string too. She can’t even leave Frank Bellingham alone, though she’s staying in his house.””

    “You're alone with her at last / And you're waiting 'til you think the time is right / Cause you've heard she's pretty fast / And you're hoping that she'll give you some tonight.”

13. (dated, offensive, vernacular)Uncharacteristically mature or promiscuous for one's age.

    “[…] if she is of the slightly faster kind that gives smart lunch parties at the Strand Corner House, her diet is sometimes a little stronger; she takes to novels of the orchid house and the tiger's lair, to the artless erotics of Miss Elinor Glyn, Mr Hubert Wales, and Miss Victoria Cross.”

14. Ahead of the correct time or schedule.

    “There must be something wrong with the hall clock. It is always fast.”

15. More sensitive to light than average.
16. (abbreviation, acronym, mnemonic, not-comparable)An acronym for remembering desirable characteristics for goal-setting: frequently discussed, ambitious, specific, transparent.

    “What’s more, FAST goals work well across a wide range of industries. Technology companies such as Google, Intuit, and Netflix use an approach called objectives and key results (OKRs) to put these principles into action. FAST goals are also used in companies in more traditional industries, including AB InBev, Burger King, and Kraft Heinz.”

noun

1. (British)A train that calls at only some stations it passes between its origin and destination, typically just the principal stations.
2. The act or practice of fasting, religious abstinence from food.

   “1677 George Fox, The Hypocrites Fast and Feast Not God's Holy Day, p. 8 (paraphrasing Matthew 6:16-18). And is it not the Command of Christ, that in their Fast they should not appear unto men to fast?”

   “anciently a change of diet was not reckoned a fast; but it consisted in a perfect abstinence from all sustenance for the whole day till evening.”

3. Any of the fasting periods in the liturgical year.

   “1662 Peter Gunning, The Holy Fast of Lent Defended Against All Its Prophaners: Or, a Discourse, Shewing that Lent-Fast was First Taught the World by the Apostles (1677 [1662]), p. 13 (translation of the Paschal Epistle of Theophilus of Alexandria). And so may we enter the Fasts at hand, beginning Lent the 30th. day of the Month Mechir”

4. (abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, countable, uncountable)Acronym of focused assessment with sonography for trauma.
5. (abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, countable, uncountable)Acronym of firefighter assist and search team.
6. (abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, countable, uncountable)Acronym of free advertising-supported streaming television

intj

1. (abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis)Ellipsis of stand fast, a warning not to pass between the arrow and the target.

adv

1. In a firm or secure manner, securely; in such a way as not to be moved; safe, sound .

   “Hold this rope as fast as you can.”

   “Do as I bid you, ſhut doores after you, Faſt binde, faſt finde, A Prouerbe neuer ſtale in thrifty minde.”

   “Nine hundred of the ſtrongeſt Men were employed to draw up theſe Cords by many Pulleys faſtned on the Poles, and thus, in leſs than three Hours, I was raiſed and flung into the Engine, and there tyed faſt.”

2. Deeply or soundly .

   “The princess was sleeping fast, and her servants were fast asleep too.”

3. Immediately following in place or time; close, very near .

   “The horsemen came fast on our heels.”

   “Fast by the sturdy batsman the ball unheeded sped. / That ain't my style, said Casey. Strike one, the umpire said.”

4. Quickly, with great speed; within a short time .

   “Do it as fast as you can.”

   “Faster than a speeding bit, the internet upended media and entertainment companies. Piracy soared, and sales of albums and films slid. Newspapers lost advertising and readers to websites. Stores selling books, CDs and DVDs went bust. Doomsayers predicted that consumers and advertisers would abandon pay-television en masse in favour of online alternatives.”

5. Ahead of the correct time or schedule.

   “I think my watch is running fast.”

verb

1. (intransitive)To practice religious abstinence, especially from food.

   “Thou didst fast and weep for the child.”

   “Fasting he went to sleep, and fasting waked.”

   “1677 George Fox, The Hypocrites Fast and Feast Not God's Holy Day, p. 8 (paraphrasing Matthew 6:16-18). And is it not the Command of Christ, that in their Fast they should not appear unto men to fast?”

   “It is at the core of the Vision Quest, the solitary period of fasting and closeness to the earth to discover one's life path and purpose.”

2. (intransitive)To reduce or limit one's nutrition intake for medical or health reasons, to diet.

   “The ideal would be to fast in a situation where you are not tempted by food”

   “After the equilibration period, the rats designated for deprivation studies were made to fast for 24, 48, 72, or 96 hr according to experimental design.”

3. (transitive)To cause (a person or animal) to abstain, especially from eating.

   “At 11 weeks of age, all mice were fasted overnight and underwent gallbladder ultrasonography to determine ejection fraction.”

   “Kittens, when fasted overnight, were not hypoglycemic (<60 mg/dl).”

phrase

1. (abbreviation, acronym, alt-of)Acronym of facial drooping, arm weakness, speech difficulty, time, a mnemonic for diagnosing a CVA or stroke.

name

1. (abbreviation, alt-of, initialism)Initialism of Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope.
2. A surname.