different between desist vs avast

English

Etymology

From Middle French desister.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??s?st/, /d??z?st/
• Rhymes: -?st

Verb

desist (third-person singular simple present desists, present participle desisting, simple past and past participle desisted)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To cease to proceed or act; to stop (often with from).
   • 1921, Annual Report of the Federal Trade Commission, page 173:

     After hearing[,] an order was entered requiring respondent to cease and desist the practice complained of under section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission act.

   • 2005, Gerry Shishin Wick, The Book of Equanimity: Illuminating Classic Zen Koans, Simon and Schuster (?ISBN), page 307:

     Desist the kind of thinking that gets you into trouble. Thinking is in itself fine, but grabbing onto thoughts and images of your self will bring you suffering. Once you learn how to desist, how to let go of your ego-grasping mind, then cease thinking ...

Derived terms

Related terms

• cease and desist

Translations

Anagrams

• Deists, deists, deïsts, sisted

English

Etymology

From the Dutch hou vast (“hold tight”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??v??st/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /??væst/
• Rhymes: -æst, -??st

Interjection

avast

1. (nautical) hold fast!; desist!; stay!.
2. (slang, in imitation of pirates) listen!; pay attention!

Usage notes

• “Avast hauling!” (meaning, “stop hauling”) is (or was, in 1950) still commonly used in U.S. Navy deck operations.
• The slang use in imitation of pirate talk is based on a misconstruction of the meaning. If uttered by a historical sailor, the meaning of the sentence “Avast, ye Matey” would have been, “Desist, you novice seamen”.

Synonyms

• (hold fast): See Thesaurus:avast
• (pay attention): See Thesaurus:heads up

Anagrams

• Vasta, tavas

Estonian

Noun

avast

1. elative singular of ava

Tocharian B

Alternative forms

• avasth

Etymology

Borrowed from Sanskrit ?????? (avasth?).

Noun

avast ?

1. condition, state

Derived terms

• avastha??e

Further reading

• Adams, Douglas Q. (2013) , “avast(h)”, in A Dictionary of Tocharian B: Revised and Greatly Enlarged (Leiden Studies in Indo-European; 10), Amsterdam, New York: Rodopi, ?ISBN, page 32