Haste

Pronunciation

• IPA: /heɪst/
• Rhymes: -eɪst

Origin

Blend of Middle English hasten, (compare Dutch haasten, German hasten, Danish haste, Swedish hasta ("to hasten, rush")) and Middle English hast ("haste", noun.), from Old French haste (French: hâte)

Etymology

, from Old Frankish *haist, *haifst ("violence")

Le Robert pour tous, Dictionnaire de la langue française, Janvier 2004, p. 524

, from Proto-Germanic *haifstiz ("struggle, conflict"), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱēybʰ- ("fast, snell, fierce"). Akin to Old Frisian hāst, hāste ("haste"), Old English hǣst ("violence"), Old English hǣste ("violent, impetuous, vehement", adj.), Old Norse heift/heipt ("feud"), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐍆𐍃𐍄𐍃 (haifsts, "rivalry"). Cognate with German and Danish heftig ("vehement").

Full definition of haste

Noun

1. Speed; swiftness; dispatch.We were running late so we finished our meal in haste.
• Bible, 1 Sam. xxi. 8The king's business required haste.
2. (obsolete) Hurry; urgency; sudden excitement of feeling or passion; precipitance; vehemence.
• Bible, Psalms cxvi. 11I said in my haste, All men are liars.

Derived terms

• hasten verb
• hastily adverb
• hastiness noun
• hasty adjective
• make haste
• posthaste, post haste adverb

Related terms

• hurry
• rush
• scramble
• scamper
• scurry

Verb

1. (transitive) To urge onward; to hasten
2. (intransitive) To move with haste.
• 1594, , A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Vol. VII (4th edition) Chapter The Wounds of Civill War, The city is amaz'd, for Sylla hastes To enter Rome with fury, sword and fire.
• 1825, Samuel Johnson, The Works of Samuel Johnson in Nine Volumes Chapter , 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.
• 1881, Thomas Carlyle, Past and Present Chapter , Samson hastes not; but neither does he pause to rest.

Anagrams

• ashet, haets, hates, heats, hetas, sheat