Word about the fast

There are many fast idioms that we use in English, but not all of them refer to speed. How confusing idioms can be!

Don’t worry though, we’re here to help you understand the meaning of these idioms and other phrases using ‘fast’ and ‘quick’. Get ready for some:

• Fast idioms
• ‘Faster than’ idioms
• ‘As quick as’ idioms

Will you make fast work of this list?

First, we’ll look at some idioms which include the word ‘fast’ (although they aren’t necessarily all idioms about speed).

Lightning fast

Something that happens lightning fast, at the speed of lightning or at lightning speed happens extremely quickly – just like a flash of lightning.

“The freshly-baked cupcakes disappeared lightning-fast at the children’s birthday party.”
“The team completed the assault course at lightning speed.”

Lightning-fast may also be used as an adjective:

“Her lightning-fast time put her top of the leaderboard.”

You can find this on our list of weather-related idioms too.

Live life in the fast lane

Someone who lives life in the fast lane has an energetic and exciting lifestyle and is often involved in risky or high-pressure activities.

“Joel loves to live life in the fast lane; he’s just taken up base jumping as a hobby!”

Fast talk

Fast talk is speech which is intense and persuasive but usually deceptive or manipulative in nature. People speak like this when they want you to take action quickly without thinking too much about the decision.

It’s often used as a verb in the phrase fast-talk someone into something:

“That door-to-door salesman fast-talked me into purchasing a ton of things I didn’t need.”

Nowhere fast

The idiom get nowhere fast or go nowhere fast refers to the exact opposite of speed. It means you are making very little or no progress.

“I’ve been working on this project for weeks but I’m getting nowhere fast.”

We can also use either of these phrases without ‘fast’ added.

Pull a fast one

To pull a fast one (on someone) is to trick or deceive them or carry out a practical joke.

“Are you pulling a fast one on me?”

Make a fast buck

To make a fast buck (or a quick buck) is to make money quickly and with minimal effort. This idiom may often refer to a dishonest or morally questionable way of making money.

“Alan has been making a fast buck with his online business.”

Take a look at some more money idioms here.

Thick and fast

The adverbial idiom thick and fast means rapidly and in large quantities.

“The rain was coming down thick and fast as they drove home.”
“The customers are coming thick and fast today.”

Stand fast

When used as an adverb, ‘fast’ can mean ‘quickly’ but it can also mean ‘securely’. From this meaning, we get the idiom stand fast, which can also be said as stand firm. It means to remain determined or to refuse to change your position or opinion.

“Let’s all stand fast against the management’s proposal to increase working hours.”
“If you really care about animal welfare you must stand firm in your beliefs when buying beauty products.”

The idiom hold fast can also be used in this way. However, it can also refer to a physical adhesion to something.

Make fast work of

To make fast work of something or someone means that you very quickly deal with, handle or finish that thing. It can also refer to the consumption of food or drink.

“You made fast work of that pizza! You must have been hungry.”
“The red team made fast work of the yellow team in the tournament.”

Fast track

The phrase fast track can be used in several ways. Firstly, the fast track to something is the quickest way to achieve it, following an accelerated path.

“Alissa is on the fast track to success in her career.”

As a verb, to fast-track means to expedite or speed up a process.

“We’ll fast-track your application so you can expect to receive a response within a week.”

As an adjective, it has a similar meaning.

“I had to pay an extra $150 for the fast-track application.”

This ‘fast’ idiom also appears on our list of business idioms.

‘Faster than’ idioms

The idea behind ‘faster than’ idioms is that you’re likening one thing to another to illustrate how fast it is. This is a kind of simile.

Here are some examples of common ‘faster than’ idioms used in English:

• Faster than lightning
• Faster than a speeding bullet
• Faster than a wink of an eye
• Faster than a dog with a bone
• Faster than you can say… (followed by a phrase relevant to the situation)

Here are some examples:

“This tool will help your website run faster than lightning.”
“I’ll have your washing machine fixed faster than you can say ‘bad plumbing’.”

If you want to talk about time passing quickly, you might find these time idioms useful as well.

The great thing about ‘quicker than’ and ‘faster than’ idioms is that you can make them up yourself. As long as the thing you add is something which is understood to be very fast, the comparison will work.

These phrases are often used by comedians in one-liner jokes, by adding something unexpected but humorous to the ending. For example:

• Gone faster than a turkey in November
• Disappeared faster than a toupee on a windy day
• Wakes you up faster than a cold toilet seat in the morning
• Vanished faster than a politician’s promises

And so on…

‘As quick as’ idioms

These ‘as quick as’ idioms are similar in meaning and use to the ones listed above. They all mean ‘extremely fast’ or ‘as fast as possible’.

• As quick as your legs can carry you
• As quick as can be
• As quick as a flash
• As quick as a wink
• As quick as lightning

You may also say ‘as fast as’ for any of these, although some more commonly use ‘quick’. You can also drop the first ‘as’ from all except the first one:

“Quick as a flash, he disappeared round the corner.”
“Run to get help – as quick as your legs can carry you!”

Again, you could improvise your own endings with these if you like.

I hope you now have a better understanding of how to use these ‘fast’ idioms and phrases. Can you think of any other idioms to talk about speed? Leave a comment below to let me know!

During the month of Ramadan, followers of Islam around the world partake in fasting. No food or drink is consumed during the daylight hours for 30 straight days.

People who partake are far from alone. In fact, fasting plays an important role in many religions, as well as in diets and forms of protest.

Regardless of the purpose, there’s a couple of questions that relate to all forms of fasting: What’s so fast about fasting? And is fasting at all related to fast as in “quick” or “firmly fixed in place”?

What is the connection between Ramadan and fasting? Enrich your knowledge with this article on the meaning of Ramadan.

What is a fast?

To fast is a verb that means “to abstain from all food,” or “to eat only sparingly or of certain kinds of food, especially as a religious observance.” Someone can fast for a week, for example, or you could say that someone who isn’t eating for a period of time is fasting.

Fast can also be used as a noun in the sense of “a day or period of fasting,” as in the devout followers observed a two-day fast.

What the definition doesn’t specify is how long of an abstinence is required before it’s considered a fast. Still, the word is generally used to refer to not eating for a big portion of the day rather than fasting for a matter of minutes—you know, the time in between snacks.

Though this literal meaning is directly tied to food and eating, it’s common for people to use fast in metaphorical ways as well. People can say that they’re fasting when it comes to pretty much anything that has to do with consumption. One can go on a social media fast to prove they don’t really need to check their social accounts every 30 minutes, for instance. When used in this context, the person fasting typically refrains from using something that is considered a habit or harmful when done too compulsively.

Why do we use the term breakfast?

Even English speakers who think they’ve never used fast in a sentence are actually frequent users of the word. You’ve likely had the aha! moment when you noticed yourself using fast in a very specific setting: breakfast.

Breakfast is a compound made up of the words break and fast, and the meaning is just as straightforward. It’s such a familiar (and delicious) word we seldom stop to think about what it means when you take it apart! Quite literally, when you eat in the morning, you are breaking your fast from when you were sleeping the night before, whether that was an eight-hour sleeping fast or a 12-hour fast. (Were you sleeping in a little bit?)

Where does the word fast come from? Does it originally mean “speedy”?

Fast comes from the Old English word fæstan. It’s a cognate of similar words in Germanic languages, like the German fasten and Old Norse fasta.

Like run, fast is one of those words with a wide range of meanings. In fact, understanding what someone means when they say fast largely depends on context. Fast can be an adjective meaning “quick,” as in cheetahs are fast, as well as an adverb meaning “quickly” or “done in a short amount of time,” as in the medicine is working very fast.

Then there are the other meanings of fast that have nothing to do with speed. Fast can be used as an adverb in the sense of “holding tightly,” like a boat held fast to the dock. Fast can also mean “soundly,” as in someone who is fast asleep. These uses are closely related to steadfast, another fast compound which means “firmly attached,” “permanent,” and “not fluctuating.” In fact, etymologists believe that they are, in fact, all ultimately related. Underlying the word’s many meanings are such ideas as stability, groundedness, security, fixedness.

And indeed, the ancient, root sense of fast is believed to be “holding firm” or “guarding.” You can imagine this original meaning was extended to “firmly fixed in place.” The sense development of this root to “quick” is more obscure; it may have risen out of some notion of a vigor or tenacity within “holding firm.” Finally, fasting is thought to have grown out of “holding firm” in religious observances or duties, which historically involved abstaining from food in ritualistic ways.

Why do people fast around the world?

Fasting is a common theme across the world’s major religions and cultures. During Ramadan, observers of Islam abstain from food and drink from sunrise to sunset for about 30 days. Catholics and some sects of Christianity fast for 40 weekdays leading up to Easter for Lent. Though fasting was once a central part of Lent and observers used to eat only one meal a day (and no meat, eggs, or butter), people now fast to varying degrees. Roman Catholics, for example, abstain from meat on the first day of Lent (Ash Wednesday), the Friday before Easter (Good Friday), and every Friday during the seven weeks of Lent. People in other sects of modern Christianity may give up something they view as valuable or enjoyable, like chocolate or coffee or even video games, rather than fast.

Do you want to know more about Lent and the special days during and around it? Lend us your ears, because we have all the details here.

Fasting has long been a part of religious observances, as well as health practices. The Greek physician Hippocrates recommended fasting for people who were ill. Various fasting methods were prescribed throughout the 20th century as a way to get over certain chronic illnesses.

When it comes to religion, ancient Greek priests and priestesses fasted for deities. Indigenous peoples in what is now Peru fasted for penance and fasting took place before religious vision quests elsewhere in the Americas. Buddhist monks fast for meditation and there are a number of fasting days in Judaism, like Yom Kippur. The exact reasons for the fast differ by religion and culture, but it’s generally a way to get closer to gods and deities. For example, in the Bible, fasting is used as a way to show repentance and deny oneself the comforts of life, instead relying on God alone for strength.

What is a hunger strike?

There’s also another reason that people fast that has nothing to do with religion or health: fasting in protest or to raise awareness of an issue. Mahatma Gandhi fasted to protest colonial rule in India, and people who are imprisoned have long used hunger strikes to call attention to prison conditions. The term hunger strike dates back to the early 1900s and is defined as “a deliberate refusal to eat, undertaken in protest against imprisonment, improper treatment, objectionable conditions.”

American military veterans fasted in protest of President Ronald Reagan’s policies, and Reagan himself declared November 24, 1985 the National Day of Fasting To Raise Funds To Combat Hunger.

What is intermittent fasting?

Fasting has become a part of a popular wellness trend, too, thanks to intermittent fasting. Intermittent fasting is when someone fasts for a set period of time during the day to lose weight. Noncaloric drinks like water, coffee, and tea are allowed during the fasting periods, but no food. It’s essentially a dieting tactic that focuses on eating at certain times rather than dictating exactly what a person is supposed to eat.

It should be noted that intermittent fasting is built into life itself—see: breakfast. When people talk about intermittent fasting, they’re referring to fasting that’s “alternately ceasing and beginning again.” However, they’re not referring to the natural fast of sleeping and breaking that fast in the morning. One of the most popular intermittent fasting schedules is the 16/8 method (16 hours of fasting, eight hours of not fasting).

Outside of religious and health reasons, many people won’t be so fast to jump into fasting. Food lovers, for one, are sure to hold fast to enjoying their meals and snacks whenever, wherever. Yet at the end of the day, fasting is a part of every person’s life, as is breaking that fast in the morning.

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На основании Вашего запроса эти примеры могут содержать грубую лексику.

На основании Вашего запроса эти примеры могут содержать разговорную лексику.

But at this speed, the air moves so fast it’s about to become a potentially dangerous force.

Но на такой скорости, воздух движется так быстро, что вот-вот станет потенциально опасной силой.

All right, it’s not about how fast you get back to Washington.

At times, it’s the fast way to finding the information about your battery on the Internet.

Time of fast growth is over; it’s tome to think about performance.

Ничего не найдено для этого значения.

Результатов: 3197151. Точных совпадений: 1. Затраченное время: 449 мс

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