haste
nounverbattested in dialogue
- //heɪst//
Speed; swiftness; dispatch.
noun
- 1
Speed; swiftness; dispatch.
We were running late so we finished our meal in haste.
The king's business required haste.
There was a stampede as the congressmen jumped the banister in their hastes to be the first to sign away their souls.
- 2
obsoleteUrgency; sudden excitement of feeling or passion; precipitance; vehemence.
I said in my haste, All men are liars.
Etymology
Blend of Middle English hasten (verb), (compare Dutch haasten, German hasten, Danish haste, Swedish hasta (“to hasten, rush”)) and Middle English hast (“haste”, noun), from Old French haste (whence French hâte), from Old Frankish *hai(f)st (“violence”), from Proto-Germanic *haifstiz (“struggle, conflict”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱeyp- (“to ridicule, mock, anger”). Akin to Old Frisian hāst, hāste (“haste”), Old English hǣst (“violence”), Old English hǣste (“violent, impetuous, vehement”, adjective), Old Norse heift /heipt (“feud”), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐍆𐍃𐍄𐍃 (haifsts, “rivalry”). Cognate with German heftig (“vehement”) and Danish heftig (“vehement”).
verb
- 1
archaicTo urge onward; to hasten.
Baſſ. You may doe ſo, but let it be ſo haſted that ſupper be readie at the fartheſt by fiue of the clocke.
- 2
archaicTo move with haste.
The city is amaz'd, for Sylla hastes / To enter Rome with fury, sword and fire.
He hastes away to another, whom his affairs have called to a distant place, and, having seen the empty house, goes away disgusted by a disappointment which could not be intended, because it could not be foreseen.
Samson hastes not; but neither does he pause to rest.
Waziri’s warriors marched at a rapid trot through the jungle in the direction of the village. For a few minutes, the sharp cracking of guns ahead warned them to haste, but finally the reports dwindled to an occasional shot, presently ceasing altogether.
Forms
- plural
- hastes
- past tense
- hasted
- past participle
- hasted
- present participle
- hasting
- third person singular
- hastes