Meaning of word sped

n.

2. Swiftness of action: He wrote the first chapter with great speed.

4. A transmission gear or set of gears in a motor vehicle: What speed is the car in now?

6. Slang A stimulant drug, especially amphetamine or methamphetamine.

7. Slang One that suits or appeals to a person’s inclinations, skills, or character: Living in a large city is not my speed.

8. Archaic Prosperity; luck.

v.intr.

2. To pass quickly: The days sped by. The months have sped along.

3. To move, work, or happen at a faster rate; accelerate: His pulse speeded up.

4. Slang To be under the influence of a stimulant drug.

v.tr.

1. To cause to move or proceed quickly; hasten: no wind to speed the boat.

2. To increase the speed or rate of; accelerate. Often used with up: speed up a car; sped up production.

3. To further, promote, or expedite (a legal action, for example).

4. Archaic To help to succeed or prosper; aid.

at speed

At high speed: added a spoiler to the car to reduce lift when operating at speed.

up to speed

1. Operating at maximum speed. Producing something or performing at an acceptable rate or level.

2. Informal Fully informed; conversant: I’m not up to speed on these issues yet.

n

1. the act or quality of acting or moving fast; rapidity

2. the rate at which something moves, is done, or acts

3. (General Physics) physics a scalar measure of the rate of movement of a body expressed either as the distance travelled divided by the time taken (average speed) or the rate of change of position with respect to time at a particular point (instantaneous speed). It is measured in metres per second, miles per hour, etc

4. (Mechanical Engineering) a rate of rotation, usually expressed in revolutions per unit time

6. (Photography) photog a numerical expression of the sensitivity to light of a particular type of film, paper, or plate. See also ISO rating

7. (Photography) photog a measure of the ability of a lens to pass light from an object to the image position, determined by the aperture and also the transmitting power of the lens. It increases as the f-number is decreased and vice versa

8. (Recreational Drugs) a slang word for amphetamine

9. archaic prosperity or success

10. at speed quickly

vb, speeds, speeding, sped or speeded

12. to move or go or cause to move or go quickly

13. (Law) (intr) to drive (a motor vehicle) at a high speed, esp above legal limits

14. (Automotive Engineering) (intr) to drive (a motor vehicle) at a high speed, esp above legal limits

15. (tr) to help further the success or completion of

16. (Recreational Drugs) (intr) slang to take or be under the influence of amphetamines

17. (Mechanical Engineering) (intr) to operate or run at a high speed

4.

a. the sensitivity of a photographic film or paper to light.

b. the length of time a shutter is opened to expose film.

c. the largest opening at which a lens can be used.

1. at full or top speed,

a. at the greatest speed possible.

b. to the maximum of one’s capabilities.

2. up to speed,

a. operating at full or optimum speed.

b. functioning at an anticipated or competitive level: a new firm not yet up to speed.

See Also: RUNNING

1. (Poems have become) as instant as coffee or onion soup mix —Donald Hall
2. (They’ll whip her back … ) as quick as shit through a goose —Derek Lambert
3. As swift as meditation, or the thoughts of love —William Shakespeare
4. As swiftly as a reach of still water is crisped by the wind —Rudyard Kipling
5. Be not in a hurry, like the almond, first to blossom and last to ripen. Be rather like the mulberry, last to blossom and first to ripen —The Holy Bible/Apocrypha
6. The crowd was moving fast … like a big spread ravelling, and the separate threads disappeared down the dark street —Flannery O’Connor
7. Drive [a car] like the hounds of hell —Rosamund Pilcher
8. Fast as a bird on the wing —Anon
9. Fast as a cat scurrying up a tree at the approach of a strange dog —Anon
10. Fast as a cook cracks eggs —Thomas Nash
11. Fast as a heartbeat —John D. MacDonald
12. Fast as a jet —Mark Helprin
13. Fast as a pickpocket —Anon
14. Fast as a propeller —Bertold Brecht
15. (Scrambles into the room,) fast as a spider —Robert Silverberg
16. Fast as greased lightning —American colloquialism
17. Fast as the blink of an eye —Anon
18. Fast-moving as the gray fox that climbs trees after squirrels —Marge Piercy
19. (Little and) fleet as a terrier running beside a bloodhound —Erich Maria Remarque
20. (To vanish,) fleet as days and months and years, fleet as the generations of mankind —William Wordsworth
21. Flying like ice in a sleet storm —Ben Ames Williams
22. Fly like a donkey with pepper up its behind —Aharon Megged
23. Galloped through [religious mass] like a man with witches after him —Edith Wharton
24. Goes like a ship-lash flicked across a horse’s neck —Rudyard Kipling
25. Going like flames —Samuel Beckett
26. Going like sixty —F. D. Reeve
27. Go like a house afire —Anon

    One of many “Go like” similes that have worked their way into the American language mainstream since the late 1830s. Some other examples: “Go like a shot,” “Go like hell” and “Go like mad.”

28. Go through like a dose of salts —American colloquialism

    While purgative salts are pretty much a thing of the past, the simile endures as a way to describe a very rapid pace. With the penchant for brand names, “Go through like Ex-Lax” has become a common alternative.

29. Go through them [reading materials] like a kid through potato chips —James Crumley
30. He rushed past her like a football tackle —James Thurber
31. (Wedding plans were) hurtling along like a train on tracks —Paul Reidinger
32. Insectlike swiftness —Saul Bellow
33. It must be done like lightning —Ben Jonson
34. Just a glance, like passing your eyes over the spines of books without being able to read the title … that quick —Arthur A. Cohen

    See Also: LOOKS

35. (Scurried off, his) legs going like a windmill —Paige Mitchell

    See Also: MOVEMENT

36. Like a sunbeam, swift and bright —Sir Walter Scott
37. Move with the speed of a Grand Prix Racer —Anon
38. Moving fast as a train —Anon
39. My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle —The Holy Bible/Job

    While this simile is not much used these days, it is the one that has seeded the many contemporary variations.

40. Quick and nimble, more like a bear than a squirrel —Henry G. Bohn’s Handbook of Proverbs
41. Quick as a lizard —Anthony Trollope
42. Quick as an attack dog —Gloria Norris
43. (Acted) quick as a knife —Penelope Gilliatt
44. (The wolf … ate her up as) quick as a slap —Anne Sexton
45. Quick as a striking snake —George Garrett
46. Quick as a weasel —Robert B. Parker
47. Quick as a wink —Anon

    While variations such as “Quick as dust” and “Quick as scat” have faded from the American vocabulary, “Quick as a wink” endures to the point of overuse.

48. (Goes) quick as light —Noël Coward, lyrics for “Chase Me Charlie”
49. Quick as lightning —Frances Sheridan

    The American adaption of the simile first used by Sheridan in a play named Discovery is “Quick as greased lightning.”

50. Quick as mercury —Marguerite Yourcenar
51. (Slipped down) quick as minnows —Marge Piercy
52. (Barry’s eye was as) quick as sound —Frank Swinnerton
53. Quicker than a crab underwater —John Updike
54. Quicker than boiling asparagus —Caesar Augustus

    According to Stevenson’s Proverbs, Maxims and Famous Sayings, Augustus used this expression whenever he wanted anything to be done fast.

55. Quick on his feet as a running deer —Stephen Vincent Benét
56. (Lavella’s brain) raced like a trapped rabbit —William Beechcroft
57. (Feet) rapid as the river —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
58. Rash as fire —William Shakespeare
59. (Raleigh) rushed through (these hypotheses) like rosary beads —Michael Malone
60. (Men) rushing like they were bolt out of a cannon —Richard Ford
61. Rushing wildly from room to room like a flustered hen —Christopher Isherwood
62. Scurried like a crab —Michael Malone
63. She was so swift … it was like having a small cute dog with you —Isak Dinesen
64. Some people are too fast for their own good, like Asahel in the Book of Samuel —Saul Bellow
65. Sped around like intergalactic missiles —Lisa Harris

    Harris’s simile describes the activity of the Lubavitcher women in Crown Heights, the subject of her book The World of a Hasidic Family.

66. (The game) speeds along like a fast freight —W. P. Kinsella

    The game speeding along is baseball, the background for The Iowa Baseball Confederacy and other Kinsella novels.

67. Speedy as a steam roller —George Ade
68. Started for me (as to attack) like a streak of lightning —Rex Stout
69. Swift as a cloud between sea and sky —Percy Bysshe Shelley
70. Swift as a greyhound —Ouida
71. Swift as a mugger —David Leavitt
72. Swift as an arrow —Anon

    This has been attributed to numerous sources dating back to the early seventeenth century.

73. Swift as a plunging knife —Rudyard Kipling
74. Swift as a shadow —William Shakespeare
75. Swift as desire —Mary Pix
76. Swift as fear —Thomas Parnell
77. Swift as the eagle (flieth) —The Holy Bible/Deuteronomy
78. Swift as the waters —The Holy Bible/Job
79. Swift as thought —William Shakespeare
80. Swift as unbridled rage —Henry Abbey
81. Swifter than the wind —William Shakespeare
82. Swift in motion as a ball —William Shakespeare
83. (Fluttering her bristly black lashes as) swiftly as butterflies’ wings —Margaret Mitchell

    The girl fluttering her lashes is Scarlett O’Hara of Gone with the Wind fame.

84. Travelling fast as a wish —Elizabeth Bishop
85. (The race) went by like an express train —Enid Bagnold
86. (She dressed and) went off like a top with the whip behind it —Vicki Baum
87. Went past … like lightning past a hill —Jessamyn West
88. Went through it like a clown through a paper hoop —Temole Scott
89. Went through like shit through a tin horn —American colloquialism

1. ‘quick’

Quick is an adjective. You do not usually used it as an adverb. Instead you use the adverb quickly.

It is this muscle which gives us our quick, springing movements.

I walked quickly up the passage.

In conversation, you can use the comparative form quicker as an adverb.

I swam on a bit quicker.

Goats could ruin a farmer’s field quicker than baboons.

He began to speak more quickly.

You can use the superlative form quickest as an adverb in speech or writing.

…and Freedman reacted quickest to head the ball into the net.

2. ‘rapid’ and ‘swift’

Rapid and swift are adjectives. The corresponding adverbs are rapidly and swiftly.

Jobs tend to be plentiful at a time of rapid economic growth.

They walked rapidly past the churchyard.

…a swift decision.

He walked swiftly towards home.

3. asking about speed

Fast is the word you usually use when you are asking about the speed of something.

How fast is the fish swimming?

…looking out of the window to see how fast we were going.

4. vehicles

You use fast to say that a vehicle is capable of moving with great speed.

…a fastcar.

5. people

You do not usually use fast to talk about people, but you can use it in front of words like driver and runner to say that someone drives quickly or is capable of running quickly.

Not being a fast runner, I was glad I had parked close to the hall.

6. changes

When you are talking about the speed at which something increases or decreases, you usually use rapid.

People are worried about the rapid and massive increase in military spending.

7. no delay

Fast, immediate, quick, rapid, and swift are all used to say that something happens without any delay.

I only got a fast return on my investment once.

My immediate reaction was just disgust.

They are pressing for a quick resumption of arms negotiations.

… managers plagued by demands for rapid decisions.

The response was swift and intense.

8. short duration

You can use quick, rapid, or swift to say that something lasts only a short time.

…a quick visit.

You are likely to make a rapid recovery.

…the swift descent from tentility to near-poverty.

1. used as a noun

The speed of someone or something is the rate at which they move.

He increased his speed to 115mph.

…the speed of light.

Speed is often used in prepositional phrases beginning with at or with.

You can say that someone or something moves at a particular speed.

He goes on driving at the same speed.

The bullets hit Ilie Popescu at a speed of 1,350 feet per second.

If you want to emphasize how fast something is moving, you can use at and an adjective in front of speed.

I drove at great speed to West Bank.

A plane flew low over the ship at lightning speed.

If you want to emphasize how quickly something happens or is done, you use with and an adjective in front of speed.

The shape of their bodies changes with astonishing speed.

They have succeeded in expanding their industries with remarkable speed.

2. used as a verb

In stories, if someone speeds somewhere, they move or travel there quickly. When speed has this meaning, its past tense and past participle is sped.

They sped along Main Street towards the highway.

They drove through Port Philip and sped on down south.

3. ‘speed up’

If something speeds up or if you speed it up, it moves, happens, or is done more quickly.

They’re way ahead of us. Speed up!

The past tense and past participle of speed up is speeded up.

Tom speeded up and overtook them.

The process is now being speeded up.