different between hasty vs posthaste

English

Etymology

From Middle English hasty, of unclear origin. Likely a new formation in Middle English equivalent to haste +? -y, found as in other Germanic languages (Old Frisian hastig, Middle Dutch haestigh (> Dutch haastig (“hasty”)), Middle Low German hastich (“hasty”), German hastig, Danish hastig, Swedish hastig (“hasty”)); otherwise possibly representing an assimilation to the foregoing of Middle English hastive, hastif (> English hastive), from Old French hastif (Modern French hâtif), from Frankish *haifst (“violence”), of same ultimate origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?he?sti/
• Rhymes: -e?sti

Adjective

hasty (comparative hastier, superlative hastiest)

1. Acting in haste; being too hurried or quick
   • 1610, Alexander Cooke, Pope Joane, in William Oldys, editor, The Harleian Miscellany: or, A Collection of Scarce, Curious, and Entertaining Pamphlets and Tracts, as well in Manuscript as in Print, Found in the Late Earl of Oxford's Library: Interspersed with Historical, Political, and Critical Notes: With a Table of the Contents, and an Alphabetical Index, volume IV, London: Printed for T[homas] Osborne, in Gray's-Inn, 1744, OCLC 5325177; republished as John Maltham, editor, The Harleian Miscellany; or, A Collection of Scarce, Curious, and Entertaining Pamphlets and Tracts, as well in Manuscript as in Print, Found in the Late Earl of Oxford's Library, Interspersed with Historical, Political, and Critical Notes, volume IV, London: Printed for R. Dutton, 1808–1811, OCLC 30776079, page 95:

     If there bee any lasie fellow, any that cannot away with worke, any that would wallow in pleasures, hee is hastie to be priested. And when hee is made one, and has gotten a benefice, he consorts with his neighbour priests, who are altogether given to pleasures; and then both hee, and they, live, not like Christians, but like epicures; drinking, eating, feasting, and revelling, till the cow come home, as the saying is.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Anagrams

• sayth, yasht

English

Alternative forms

• post-haste, post haste

Etymology

From the former instruction on letters ‘haste, post, haste’, later reinterpreted as a compound of post +? haste.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?p??st?he?st/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?po?st?he?st/

Adverb

posthaste (not comparable)

1. quickly, as fast as someone travelling post; with great speed

   It is imperative that you finish your task posthaste.

   • 1946 — Paramahansa Yogananda, Autobiography of a Yogi, Ch. 17

     "Sasi cannot last through the night." These words from his physician, and the spectacle of my friend, now reduced almost to a skeleton, sent me posthaste to Serampore.

Synonyms

• (quickly): ASAP, quickly
• See also Thesaurus:quickly

Noun

posthaste (uncountable)

1. Alternative spelling of post-haste
   • 1602 : Hamlet by William Shakespeare, act 1 scene 1 l 103-106

     "And this, I take it,

     Is the main motive of our preparations

     The source of this our watch, and the chief head

     Of this post-haste and rummage in the land."