▪ I. haste, n.
(heɪst)
Forms: 3– haste; also 3–8 hast, 4–5 haast(e, 4–6 Sc. (and Coverd.) haist, 5 hayste.
[a. OF. haste (12th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), mod.F. hâte:—WGer. *haisti-, in OE. hǽst, hést fem., violence, fury = Goth. haifsts fem., strife, contest; cf. OE. hǽste adj. violent, vehement, impetuous = OFris. hâst, hæ̂st, OHG. heisti, heist. The French word was taken back into Middle Dutch, and thence into other Teut. langs.: cf. MDu. haeste, haest, Du. haast, MLG. and LG. hast, Ger. hast haste.]
I. 1. Urgency or impetuosity of movement resulting in or tending to swiftness or rapidity; quickness, speed, expedition (properly of voluntary action). Opposed to leisurely motion or action. (Most freq. in phrases: see 4 a, 5.)
| a 1300 Cursor M. 5198 To bidd hast now es nan sa frek. c 1386 Chaucer Miller's T. 359 This asketh haste. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 48, I shall do more in a daye than my brother in twayne, for all his haste. 1582 N. Lichefield tr. Castanheda's Conq. E. Ind. vii. 17 a, They fled, and made away with great hast. 1697 W. Dampier Voy. I. 13 The old man would have stayed us here..but our business required more haste. 1796 Goldsm. Ess. xv. Wks. (Globe) 328/1 In situations where the action seems to require haste. 1888 A. K. Green Behind Closed Doors iv, To make him understand the necessity of haste. |
2. Such quickness of action as excludes due consideration or reflection; hurry, precipitancy, want of deliberation, rashness. (See also 4 b, 6.)
| a 1300 E.E. Psalter lxxvii[i]. 33 Þair daies waned in unnaitnesse, And þair yheres with haste ware lesse. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus v. 1605 Greuous to me god wot is youre vnreste, Your haste. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon xcix. 320 An yll haste is not good. c 1645 Howell Lett. (1650) II. 29 Hast and choler are enemies to all great actions. 1781 Cowper Retirement 725 Friends, not adopted with a school⁓boy's haste. 1832 Tennyson ‘Love thou thy land’ 96 Raw Haste, half-sister to Delay. |
3. The condition of being obliged to act quickly on account of having little time; eagerness to get something done quickly; hurry. (See also 4 c, d.)
| c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 794 Thisbe (MS. Gg. 4.27), This tisbe hath..so gret haste Piramus to se. 1470–85 Malory Arthur i. x, After the hast of the letters, they gaf hem this ansuer that [etc.]. 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VI, 93 b, These joly gallantes left behynde theim for hast, all their tentes. 1581 Savile Agric. (1598) 198 Many halfe dead..were left for haste of winning the fielde. 1710 Steele Tatler No. 200 ¶4 The urgent Hast of another Correspondent. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xxxiv, She advanced, breathless with haste. 1872 J. F. Clarke Self-Culture 58 (Cent.) The haste to get rich. |
II. Phrases.
4. in haste. a. (in sense 1.) With energetic speed; quickly, expeditiously (also, † an haste, on haste (obs.): see an prep.). So in all haste (arch.), as quickly as possible, with all speed.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 13402 Þai fild a cupp þan son in hast. a 1300 K. Horn 615 He sloȝ þer on haste On hundred bi þe laste. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 3608 Richard prykede forþ an haste, Ase harde as he may þraste. a 1400–50 Alexander 2817, I sall hele [= recover] all in hast. 1567 Satir. Poems Reform. v. 50 Reuenge in haist the cruell act. 1667 Milton P.L. x. 456 Forth rush'd in haste the great consulting Peers. a 1791 Wesley Wks. (1830) XII. 287 Though I am always in haste I am never in a hurry. 1859 Tennyson Enid 1391 ‘Not dead!’ she answer'd in all haste. 1868 Lynch Rivulet cxvii. i, Arise, sad heart, arise in haste. |
b. (in sense 2.) With excited quickness; without deliberation, hurriedly, hastily, in a hurry.
| 1513 More in Grafton Chron. (1568) II. 782 Scribled forth in hast at aduenture. 1535 Coverdale Ps. cxv. 11, I sayde in my haist: All men are lyers. 1677 Lauderdale in L. Papers (Camden) III. lvii. 89 So as they may not trouble us any more in hast. 1689 Burnet Tracts I. 1 Who has seen so little, and as it were in hast. 1710–11 Swift Let. to Mrs. Johnson 16 Jan., I dined to-day with Dr. Cockburn, but will not do so again in haste, he has generally such a parcel of Scots with him. |
c. (in sense 3.) With quickness of action due to being pressed for time; with speed, speedily.
| 1513 More in Grafton Chron. (1568) II. 759 One Mistlebrooke..came in great haste to the hous of one Pottier. 1584 D. Powel Lloyd's Cambria 221 The king leuied an armie in Hast. 1699 Garth Dispens. v. 60 In hast a Council's call'd. 1727 Swift Gulliver iii. i. 181 Four or five men running in great haste up the stairs. 1845 S. Austin Ranke's Hist. Ref. III. 607 Prepared at any moment to send such as might be demanded in haste. |
d. (in sense 3.) As predicate, often with inf.: Eager to get something done quickly; in a hurry.
| 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. i. iii. 89 Your Father calls for you, He is in hast, therefore I pray you go. 1700 Ray in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 205, I am in no hast for them, but can well wait your leisure. 1759 Robertson Hist. Scot. I. iii. 196 Mary was in no haste to return into Scotland. 1782 Cowper Gilpin 198 So turning to his horse, he said, ‘I am in haste to dine’. 1812 J. Wilson Isle of Palms iii. 935 No sooner come than in haste to go. |
5. a. to make haste: To put forth energy producing speed; to move or act with quickness; to use expedition, to hasten. (Often with inf.)
| 1535 Coverdale Ps. xxxix. [xl.] 13 Make haist (o Lorde) to helpe me. 1582 N. Lichefield tr. Castanheda's Conq. E. Ind. vii. 19 b, Making hast to the shore, and atteining the same, they ran away. 1662 J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. 13 One while to march on very slowly, another, to make more haste. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones vi. x, It was necessary for him to make haste home. 1837 Dickens Pickw. vii, Make haste down, and come out. 1847 James J. Marston Hall ix, I made as much haste as I could to get away. |
b. to make haste slowly, after L. festina lente (Suet. Aug. 25).
| 1744 B. Franklin Poor Richard (1890) Apr. 146 Make haste slowly. 1831 Deb. Congress U.S. 4 Feb. 98 Thus far the committee have ‘made haste slowly’. 1938 M. Teagle Murders in Silk iii. 22 Easy, son. Let's make haste slowly. Does Conner know where the knife came from? |
c. Cricket. Of a ball: to come up from the pitch with increased speed.
| 1888 A. G. Steel in Steel & Lyttelton Cricket iii. 123 Every now and then one of their balls will, in cricket slang, ‘make haste from the pitch’. 1904 P. F. Warner How we recovered Ashes ix. 177 The ball made haste off the pitch, kept a little low, and clean beat Duff. 1920 ― Cricket Reminisc. ii. 19 Australia, where the bowler who makes haste off the pitch is the most useful type. |
6. In proverbs and phrases: chiefly in sense 2.
| c 1375 Barbour Troy-bk. ii. 1682 Of fule haist cummis no speid. 1546 J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 5 Hast maketh waste. Ibid., The more haste the lesse speede. 1556 Robinson tr. More's Utop. (ed. 2) To Rdr. (Arb.) 19 With more hast then good spede I broughte it to an ende. 1621 Quarles Argalus & P. (1678) 29 Acts done in haste, by leisure are repented. 1869 Freeman Norm. Conq. III. xiv. 323 The more haste was emphatically not the better speed. 1869 Hazlitt Eng. Prov. 153 Haste trips up its own heels. 1883 Ht. P. Spofford in Harper's Mag. Mar. 573/1 She married him in all haste—to repent in all leisure. 1897 E. Phillpotts Lying Prophets 346 [Cornish phrase] More haste, more let. Mod. More haste, less (or worse) speed. |
III. 7. Comb.
| 1552 Huloet, Haste maker, accelerator. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 262 Festination or hast making. 1851 Helps Comp. Solit. xi. (1874) 199 There is no occasion for being excessively emulous, or haste bitten. |
▪ II. haste, v.
(heɪst)
Forms: see prec.
[a. OF. haster (11th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), mod.F. hâter, f. haste, hâte, haste n. Cf. Du. haasten, Ger. hasten, Da. haste, Sw. hasta, all from Fr.]
Now chiefly literary, the ordinary word being hasten.
1. trans. To cause to move more quickly; to urge, drive, or press on; to quicken, accelerate, hurry.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 26737 Hast noght þi scrift on þiskin wis. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 42 Fals Edrike þat þam þider hasted. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. iv. iii. (1495) 83 Dryenesse hastyth aege. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xxvi. 562 The children of reynawde hasted somoche the ii. sones of foulques..that thei..were..wery. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon lix. 206 They were so hastyd and pursewyd. 1607 Shakes. Cor. v. i. 74 Let's hence, And with our faire intreaties hast them on. 1786 Burns Auld Farmer's N.-Y. Salut. Mare xiv, Thou..just thy step a wee thing hastit. |
2. refl. = 3. arch.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 5018 Yee most yow hast on your fare. c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 469 Þey shulden..haaste hem to make aseeþ. c 1475 Rauf Coilȝear 550, I will not haist me ane fute faster on the way. 1535 Coverdale Ps. cxl. [cxli.] 1 Lorde, I call vpon the: haist the vnto me. 1667 Milton P.L. xi. 104 Hast thee, and from the Paradise of God..drive out the sinful Pair. 1869 Lowell Foot-Path iv, I look and long, then haste me home. |
3. intr. To make haste; to come or go quickly; to act with haste or expedition; to be quick, hurry; (of time or events) to come on or approach rapidly. (Often with to and inf.)
| a 1300 Cursor M. 2837 ‘Haste’, he said, ‘þan þeder yaar’. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints, Johannes 112 Þe seknes na remed Ma haf, bot hastis to þe dede. 1388 Wyclif Ps. lxix. [lxx.] 1 Lord, hast thou to helpe me. 1581 Mulcaster Positions xli. (1887) 234 If the reward were good, he would hast to gaine more. 1614 Raleigh Hist. World v. iii. (1736) I. 689 He hasted away towards Utica. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 867 O friends, I hear the tread of nimble feet Hasting this way. 1712 Pope Messiah 23 See Nature hastes her earliest wreaths to bring. 1849 C. Brontë Shirley xxiv, The hour is hasting but too fast. 1871 R. Ellis Catullus viii. 4 Still ever hasting where she led. |