▪ I. hasty, a. (n., adv.)
(ˈheɪstɪ)
[a. OF. hasti for hastif (pl. hastis), mod.F. hâtif, -ive, f. haste, hâte haste n.: see hastive, and cf. jolly, tardy. The termination was doubtless from the first identified with native -i, -y from OE. -iᵹ; and it is noticeable that the other Teutonic langs. have formed corresponding adjs. of that type: Du. haastig, Ger., Da., Sw. hastig.]
Marked by haste; acting, moving, performed, etc. with haste.
1. Speedy, quick, expeditious; swift, rapid (in action or movement); sudden. arch. exc. as in b.
| c 1340 Cursor M. 5324 (Trin.) Þe kynge lete write lettres ..wiþ hasty fare. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 1548 Gret hasty myscheves..Þat tyll þe world er nere command. 1465 Paston Lett. No. 508 II. 200 Lete me have word in as hasty tyme as ye may. c 1511 1st Eng. Bk. Amer. (Arb.) Introd. 28/1 This people hathe a swyfte hasty speche. 1551 Turner Herbal i. B ij a, Thys wolfbayne of all poysones is the most hastye poison. 1648 Milton Tenure Kings (1650) 59 We wish hasty ruin to all Tyrants. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 174 When impetuous Rain Swells hasty Brooks. 1722 De Foe Plague (1756) 198 A very smart and hasty Rain. 1770–4 A. Hunter Georg. Ess. (1803) I. 24 The dung of pigeons is a rich and hasty manure. 1810 Scott Lady of L. i. xviii, The sportive toil..Served too in hastier swell to show Short glimpses of a breast of snow. |
b. Speedy or quick on account of having little time; hurried.
| 1590 Sir J. Smyth Disc. Weapons 5 b, A hastie retraite. 1746 Berkeley Let. to Prior 20 May, Wks. 1871 IV. 317. I have written these hasty lines in no small hurry. 1750 Gray Elegy xxv, Brushing with hasty steps the dews away. 1834 Medwin Angler in Wales II. 113 Aberdovey, of which I made a hasty common-ink sketch. 1844 Wilson Brit. India III. 9 [He] had scarcely..time to cast a hasty glance at the novel circumstances around him. 1874 L. Stephen Hours in Library (1892) II. i. 20 Rasselas..is ill calculated for the hasty readers of to-day. |
c. Requiring haste or speed; made in haste. spec. in Cookery: see also hasty pudding.
| c 1386 Chaucer Miller's T. 359 (Harl. MS.) This axeþ hast, and of an hasty [5 MSS. hastif] þing Men may nought preche or make taryyng. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iv. (1586) 184 Sommer Hony, or hasty hony, made in thirty daies after the tenth of June. 1657 North's Plutarch Add. Lives (1676) 90 He [Columbus] built a hasty Fort with wood and earth. 1742 P. Francis Horace, Ep. i. xvi. 91 To purchase hasty wealth. 1883 Cassell's Dict. Cookery, Hasty Puff. |
† d. That ripens or comes to maturity early in the season; early, forward [L. præcox]: = hasting ppl. a. 2. Obs.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 228/2 Hastybere, corne..trimensis. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §12 Hasty pees..be sowen before Christmasse. 1611 Bible Isa. xxviii. 4 As the hastie fruite before the summer. 1626 Bacon Sylva Introd. to §422 How to make the Trees..more Hastie and Sudden, than they vse to be. 1693 Evelyn De la Quint. Compl. Gard. I. 131 Hasty, or Forward-Cherries. |
† 2. Eager to get something done quickly; in a hurry. In early use sometimes nearly = Ready, willing: cf. quick.) Usually with inf. Obs.
| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints, Effame 70 His hasty lykine til fulfil. a 1450 Knt. de la Tour (1868) 62 No wise woman aught to be hasty to take upon the new noualitees of array. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 376 a/2 She was hasty for to obeye and constaunte to suffre. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon lxvi. 227 How is it that ye be so hasty to departe? 1592 Nobody & Someb. in Simpson Sch. Shaks. (1878) I. 344 The Queene is not so hasty of your death. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iv. v. 61 Is hee so hastie, that hee doth suppose My sleepe, my death? 1754 Foote Knights ii. Wks 1799 I. 85 ‘Tis partly to prevent bad consequences, that I am..so hasty to match him. |
3. Characterized by undue quickness of action; precipitate, rash, inconsiderate.
| c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems 223, I have harde..That haste mene sholde wante no woo. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 228/2 Hasty..preceps. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 44 Hastie and furious of heart, and unware of perilles. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. iii. xxxvii. 237 Aptitude..to give too hasty beleefe to pretended Miracles. 1762 Goldsm. Cit. W. ii, I..will not be hasty in my decisions. 1802 Med. Jrnl. VIII. 505 He has been led into many hasty assertions. 1875 Jowett Plato V. 146 Do not be hasty in forming a conclusion. |
4. Of persons or their dispositions: Quickly excited to anger, quick-tempered, passionate, irritable. Of words or actions: Uttered or done in sudden anger or irritation.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 93 b, Testinesse or impacyency, is a frayle & hasty disposycyon, or rather accustomed & vsed vyce of angre. 1530 Palsgr. 315/1 Hastye, disposed to be angry. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon xliii. 143 Be not dyspleasyd yf I spake eny hasty worde. 1535 Coverdale Prov. xiv. 29 Wrath and haistie displeasure. 1611 Bible Ibid., Hee that is hasty of spirit, exalteth folly. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. III. 45 The natural disposition of Theodosius was hasty and choleric. 1878 Seeley Stein II. 129 Do you suppose I do not know myself to be hasty and irritable? |
B. as n. The murrain which attacks cattle. Sc.
| 1812 Agric. Survey Scotl., Caithness 200 (Jam.) Called the murrain (provincially hasty), because the animal dies soon after it is seized with it. 1815 Ibid., Sutherland 101 The disease called murrain or heasty, prevailed among the black cattle of this county. |
† C. as adv. Hastily; quickly, rapidly, soon.
| c 1450 Lydg. Secrees 847 Discrecyon..That hasty wyl medle on nouthir syde. 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 54 Mercurius ..quhilk makkis reuolutione nyne dais mair haistiar nor dois Venus..is ay sene befor the soune rysing, and haisty eftir that the soune is cum to the vest orizon. |
D. Comb., as hasty footed, hasty-minded, hasty-witted.
| 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. iii. ii. 200 Wee haue chid the hasty footed time, For parting vs. 1596 ― Tam. Shr. v. ii. 40 An hastie witted bodie. 1736–1816 Ainsworth's Lat. Dict., Hasty-minded, fervens animi. |
▪ II. † hasty, v. Obs. exc. Sc.
[f. prec.]
= haste v.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter lxxvii. 37 Þaire dayes fayld in vanyte and þaire ȝeris wiþ hastiynge [cum festinacione]. c 1400 tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. (E.E.T.S.) 105 He peyned him to hasty þe Mule. 1533 Bellenden Livy i. (1822) 2 Thay will haisty thameself to here thir novelties and recent dedis. Mod. Sc. He told them to hastie. |