Definition of fast

• v. i. - To abstain from food; to omit to take nourishment in whole or in part; to go hungry.
• v. i. - 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.
• v. i. - Abstinence from food; omission to take nourishment.
• v. i. - Voluntary abstinence from food, for a space of time, as a spiritual discipline, or as a token of religious humiliation.
• v. i. - 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.
• v. - Firmly fixed; closely adhering; made firm; not loose, unstable, or easily moved; immovable; as, to make fast the door.
• v. - Firm against attack; fortified by nature or art; impregnable; strong.
• v. - Firm in adherence; steadfast; not easily separated or alienated; faithful; as, a fast friend.
• v. - Permanent; not liable to fade by exposure to air or by washing; durable; lasting; as, fast colors.
• v. - Tenacious; retentive.
• v. - Not easily disturbed or broken; deep; sound.
• v. - Moving rapidly; quick in mition; rapid; swift; as, a fast horse.
• v. - Given to pleasure seeking; disregardful of restraint; reckless; wild; dissipated; dissolute; as, a fast man; a fast liver.
• a. - In a fast, fixed, or firmly established manner; fixedly; firmly; immovably.
• a. - In a fast or rapid manner; quickly; swiftly; extravagantly; wildly; as, to run fast; to live 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.
• n. - The shaft of a column, or trunk of pilaster.