▪ I. † ˈfasting, vbl. n.1 Obs.
[f. fast v.1 + -ing1.]
1. The action of the vb. fast1; also attrib.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. xxv. (Tollem. MS), Cipris is a medicinal tre of couenable and fastynge vertu. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 158 Festynge to a thynge, confixio. 1660 Hexham, De anckers aen den timmer, a fasting of ankers to the Timber. |
b. fasting penny (dial.): = ‘fastening penny’; see fastening 1 b.
| 1691 Ray N.-C. Words, Festing-penny. |
2. = fastening 3.
| a 1400–50 Alexander 2590 It stonaid þam all For ferd þe festing suld faile. |
▪ II. fasting, vbl. n.2
(ˈfɑːstɪŋ, ˈfæst-)
[f. fast v.2 + -ing1.]
1. The action of the vb. fast; abstinence from food; an instance of this.
| c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 207 Ich bide þe..bi his eadi festunge iþe wildernesse. c 1250 Old Kent. Serm. in O.E. Misc. (1872) 28 Si mirre signefiet uastinge. 1340 Ayenb. 33 Be uestinges and be wakinges. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. ccix. 191 He was so feble for his moch fastyng that he was dede almost. 1579 Fulke Heskins' Parl. 530 Although fasting for merite bee iustly punishable by statute. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. v. viii. 388 Even fasting it self is meat and drink to him. 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop viii, Corporal punishment, fasting, and other tortures and terrors. 1873 W. K. Sullivan O'Curry's Anct. Irish I. Introd. 283 A Trosca or fasting was made by the plaintiff going to the defendant's house, and remaining there for a certain time..before making his distress. |
† 2. A season of abstinence from food, a fast.
| 1382 Wyclif Acts xxvii. 9 And whanne now seylinge was not sykir, for that fasting passide, Poul coumfortide hem. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. ix. iii. (1495) 347 The fastynge of springynge tyme is the fyrst weke of Lente. 1483 Caxton G. de la Tour A vj b, The fastynges that she had kept. 1656 Artif. Handsom. 81 He bids the Jewes, even in their fastings, to use it. |
3. attrib., as fasting-weeds; fasting blood sugar, the concentration of sugar in the blood after a period of fasting; fasting-spittle, the saliva that is in the mouth before one's fast is broken. Also fasting-day.
| 1460–70 Bk. Quintessence 19 Mortifie it wiþ fastynge spotil. 1607 Topsell Serpents (1653) 607 If the fasting spittle of a Man fall into the jaws of a Serpent, he certainly dyeth thereof. 1648 Herrick Hesper. Fairie Temple 104 Their Holy Oyle, their Fasting-Spittle, Their sacred Salt. 1654 Trapp Comm. Esther v. 1 She laid aside her fasting-weeds, and put on her best. 1818 Art Preserv. Feet 146 Rubbing them with fasting spittle. 1927 Practitioner Feb. 116 If the fasting blood sugar is above 0·14 per cent., especially if it is in the neighbourhood of 0·2 per cent. or over, then diabetes is clearly established. 1968 J. Anderson in W. G. Oakley et al. Clinical Diabetes xxvi. 689 In uncomplicated hypo⁓thyroidism the fasting blood sugar is usually normal but may occasionally be low. |
▪ III. fasting, ppl. a.
(ˈfɑːstɪŋ, ˈfæst-)
[f. as prec. + -ing2.]
That fasts, lit. and fig.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 151 Fastynge, jejunus, impransus. c 1470 Henry Wallace v. 1034 For fastand folk to dyne gud tym war now. 1525 Ld. Berners Froiss. II. ccxli. [ccxxxviii.] 745 Sir, are ye fastynge? a 1592 H. Smith Serm. (1866) II. 213 Yet doth the non-resident keep his benefice fasting. 1595 Shakes. John iii. i. 260 A fasting Tyger. 1847 Emerson Poems, Initial Love Wks. (Bohn) I. 456 Inquisitive, and fierce, and fasting. |
Hence † ˈfastingly adv., in a fasting manner, abstemiously, sparingly. Obs.
| c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture 667 Furst speke..For frutes a-fore mete to ete þem fastyngely. 1566 Drant Horace Sat. vi. H viij b, My frende why lyke you still To lyve in countrye fastynglye uppon a craggie hill? 1616 Beaum. & Fl. Wit without Money iv. v, You shall..not dine neither, but fastingly. |