1. [n]  abstaining from food
2. [adv]  quickly or rapidly (often used as a combining form); "how fast can he get here?"; "ran as fast as he could"; "needs medical help fast"; "fast-running rivers"; "fast-breaking news"; "fast-opening (or fast-closing) shutters"
3. [adv]  firmly or tightly; "held fast to the rope"; "her foot was stuck fast"; "held tight"
4. [adj]  securely fixed in place; "the post was still firm after being hit by the car"
5. [adj]  permanently dyed; "fast colors"; "colorfast fabrics"
6. [adj]  acting or moving or capable of acting or moving quickly; "fast film"; "on the fast track in school"; "set a fast pace"; "a fast car"
7. [adj]  (music) at a rapid tempo; "the band played a fast fox trot"
8. [adj]  (used of timepieces) indicating a time ahead of or later than the correct time; "my watch is fast"
9. [adj]  hurried and brief; "paid a flying visit"; "took a flying glance at the book"; "a quick inspection"; "a fast visit"
10. [adj]  unrestrained by convention or morality; "Congreve draws a debauched aristocratic society"; "deplorably dissipated and degraded"; "riotous living"; "fast women"
11. [adj]  firmly fastened or secured against opening; "windows and doors were all fast"; "a locked closet"; "left the house properly secured"
12. [adj]  (of surfaces) conducive to rapid speeds; "a fast road"; "grass courts are faster than clay"
13. [v]  abstain from eating; "Before the medical exam, you must fast"
14. [v]  abstain from certain foods, as for religious or medical reasons; "Catholics sometimes fast during Lent"

1. \Fast\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Fasted}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Fasting}.] [AS. f[ae]stan; akin to D. vasten, OHG.
   fast[=e]n, G. fasten, Icel. & Sw. fasta, Dan. faste, Goth.
   fastan to keep, observe, fast, and prob. to E. fast firm.]
   1. To abstain from food; to omit to take nourishment in whole
      or in part; to go hungry.
            Fasting he went to sleep, and fasting waked.
                                                  --Milton.
   2. To practice abstinence as a religious exercise or duty; to
      abstain from food voluntarily for a time, for the
      mortification of the body or appetites, or as a token of
      grief, or humiliation and penitence.
            Thou didst fast and weep for the child. --2 Sam.
                                                  xii. 21.
   {Fasting day}, a fast day; a day of fasting.
   

2. \Fast\, n. [OE. faste, fast; cf. AS. f[ae]sten, OHG. fasta,
   G. faste. See {Fast}, v. i.]
   1. Abstinence from food; omission to take nourishment.
            Surfeit is the father of much fast.   --Shak.
   2. Voluntary abstinence from food, for a space of time, as a
      spiritual discipline, or as a token of religious
      humiliation.
   3. A time of fasting, whether a day, week, or longer time; a
      period of abstinence from food or certain kinds of food;
      as, an annual fast.
   {Fast day}, a day appointed for fasting, humiliation, and
      religious offices as a means of invoking the favor of God.
   {To break one's fast}, to put an end to a period of
      abstinence by taking food; especially, to take one's
      morning meal; to breakfast. --Shak.
   

3. \Fast\, a. [Compar. {Faster}; superl. {Fastest}.] [OE.,
   firm, strong, not loose, AS. f?st; akin to OS. fast, D. vast,
   OHG. fasti, festi, G. fest, Icel. fastr, Sw. & Dan. fast, and
   perh. to E. fetter. The sense swift comes from the idea of
   keeping close to what is pursued; a Scandinavian use. Cf.
   {Fast}, adv., {Fast}, v., {Avast}.]
   1. Firmly fixed; closely adhering; made firm; not loose,
      unstable, or easily moved; immovable; as, to make fast the
      door.
            There is an order that keeps things fast. --Burke.
   2. Firm against attack; fortified by nature or art;
      impregnable; strong.
            Outlaws . . . lurking in woods and fast places.
                                                  --Spenser.
   3. Firm in adherence; steadfast; not easily separated or
      alienated; faithful; as, a fast friend.
   4. Permanent; not liable to fade by exposure to air or by
      washing; durable; lasting; as, fast colors.
   5. Tenacious; retentive. [Obs.]
            Roses, damask and red, are fast flowers of their
            smells.                               --Bacon.
   6. Not easily disturbed or broken; deep; sound.
            All this while in a most fast sleep.  --Shak.
   7. Moving rapidly; quick in mition; rapid; swift; as, a fast
      horse.
   8. Given to pleasure seeking; disregardful of restraint;
      reckless; wild; dissipated; dissolute; as, a fast man; a
      fast liver. --Thackeray.
   {Fast and loose}, now cohering, now disjoined; inconstant,
      esp. in the phrases to play at fast and loose, to play
      fast and loose, to act with giddy or reckless inconstancy
      or in a tricky manner; to say one thing and do another.
      ``Play fast and loose with faith.'' --Shak.
   {Fast and loose pulleys} (Mach.), two pulleys placed side by
      side on a revolving shaft, which is driven from another
      shaft by a band, and arranged to disengage and re["e]ngage
      the machinery driven thereby. When the machinery is to be
      stopped, the band is transferred from the pulley fixed to
      the shaft to the pulley which revolves freely upon it, and
      vice versa.
   {Hard and fast} (Naut.), so completely aground as to be
      immovable.
   {To make fast} (Naut.), to make secure; to fasten firmly, as
      a vessel, a rope, or a door.
   

4. \Fast\, adv. [OE. faste firmly, strongly, quickly, AS.
   f[ae]ste. See {Fast}, a.]
   1. In a fast, fixed, or firmly established manner; fixedly;
      firmly; immovably.
            We will bind thee fast.               --Judg. xv.
                                                  13.
   2. In a fast or rapid manner; quickly; swiftly;
      extravagantly; wildly; as, to run fast; to live fast.
   {Fast by}, or {Fast beside}, close or near to; near at hand.
            He, after Eve seduced, unminded slunk Into the wood
            fast by.                              --Milton.
            Fast by the throne obsequious Fame resides. --Pope.
   

5. \Fast\, n.
   That which fastens or holds; especially, (Naut.) a mooring
   rope, hawser, or chain; -- called, according to its position,
   a bow, head, quarter, breast, or stern fast; also, a post on
   a pier around which hawsers are passed in mooring.
   

6. \Fast\, n. [OF. fust, F. f?t, fr. L. fustis stick staff.]
   (Arch.)
   The shaft of a column, or trunk of pilaster. --Gwilt.
   

7. \Fast\, a.
   In such a condition, as to resilience, etc., as to make
   possible unusual rapidity of play or action; as, a fast
   racket, or tennis court; a fast track; a fast billiard table,
   etc.
   

1. Federation Against Software Theft.

2. Fortran Automatic Symbol Translator.

The sole fast required by the law of Moses was that of the great Day of Atonement (q.v.), Lev. 23:26-32. It is called "the fast" (Acts 27:9).

The only other mention of a periodical fast in the Old Testament is in Zech. 7:1-7; 8:19, from which it appears that during their captivity the Jews observed four annual fasts.

(1.) The fast of the fourth month, kept on the seventeenth day of Tammuz, the anniversary of the capture of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans; to commemorate also the incident recorded Ex. 32:19. (Comp. Jer. 52:6, 7.)

(2.) The fast of the fifth month, kept on the ninth of Ab (comp. Num. 14:27), to commemorate the burning of the city and temple (Jer. 52:12, 13).

(3.) The fast of the seventh month, kept on the third of Tisri (comp. 2 Kings 25), the anniversary of the murder of Gedaliah (Jer. 41:1, 2).

(4.) The fast of the tenth month (comp. Jer. 52:4; Ezek. 33:21; 2 Kings 25:1), to commemorate the beginning of the siege of the holy city by Nebuchadnezzar.

There was in addition to these the fast appointed by Esther (4:16).

Public national fasts on account of sin or to supplicate divine favour were sometimes held. (1.) 1 Sam. 7:6; (2.) 2 Chr. 20:3; (3.) Jer. 36:6-10; (4.) Neh. 9:1.

There were also local fasts. (1.) Judg. 20:26; (2.) 2 Sam. 1:12; (3.) 1 Sam. 31:13; (4.) 1 Kings 21:9-12; (5.) Ezra 8:21-23: (6.) Jonah 3:5-9.

There are many instances of private occasional fasting (1 Sam. 1:7: 20:34; 2 Sam. 3:35; 12:16; 1 Kings 21:27; Ezra 10:6; Neh. 1:4; Dan. 10:2,3). Moses fasted forty days (Ex. 24:18; 34:28), and so also did Elijah (1 Kings 19:8). Our Lord fasted forty days in the wilderness (Matt. 4:2).

In the lapse of time the practice of fasting was lamentably abused (Isa. 58:4; Jer. 14:12; Zech. 7:5). Our Lord rebuked the Pharisees for their hypocritical pretences in fasting (Matt. 6:16). He himself appointed no fast. The early Christians, however, observed the ordinary fasts according to the law of their fathers (Acts 13:3; 14:23; 2 Cor. 6:5).