different between wanton vs fast

English

Etymology

From Middle English wantoun, wantowen, wanto?en, wantowe (“uneducated; unrestrained; licentious; sportive; playful”), from wan- (“not, un-, mis-”) + towen, i-towen (“educated”, literally “towed; led; drawn”), from Old English togen, ?etogen, past participle of t?on (“to train, discipline”), equivalent to wan- +? towed.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?w?nt?n/
• (US) enPR: wän't?n, IPA^(key): /?w?nt?n/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /?w?nt?n/, /?w?nt?n/
• Rhymes: -?nt?n
• Homophone: wonton (some accents)

Adjective

wanton (comparative wantoner, superlative wantonest)

1. (archaic) Undisciplined, unruly; not able to be controlled.
   • 1605, William Shakespeare, King Lear, IV.1:

     As Flies to wanton Boyes are we to th' Gods, / They kill us for their sport.

   • 1785, William Cowper, “The Garden”, in The Task, a Poem, in Six Books. By William Cowper [...] To which are Added, by the Same Author, An Epistle to Joseph Hill, Esq. Tirocinium, or a Review of Schools, and The History of John Gilpin, London: Printed for J[oseph] Johnson, No. 72 St. Paul's Church-Yard, OCLC 221351486; republished as The Task. A Poem. In Six Books. To which is Added, Tirocinium: or, A Review of Schools, new edition, Philadelphia, Pa.: Printed for Thomas Dobson, bookseller, in Second-street, second door above Chestnut-street, 1787, OCLC 23630717, page 87:

     'Tis the cruel gripe, / That lean hard-handed poverty inflicts, / The hope of better things, the chance to win, / The wi?h to ?hine, the thir?t to be amus'd, / That at the found of Winter's hoary wing, / Unpeople all our counties, of ?uch herds, / Of flutt'ring, loit'ring, cringing, begging, loo?e, / And wanton vagrants, as make London, va?t / And boundless as it is, a crowded coop.

2. (obsolete) Playful, sportive; merry or carefree.
   • 1776, Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. 1:

     The grave simplicity of the philosopher was ill calculated to engage her wanton levity, or to fix that unbounded passion for variety, which often discovered personal merit in the meanest of mankind.

3. Lewd, immoral; sexually open, unchaste.
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones:

     if wenches will hang out lures for fellows, it is no matter what they suffer: I detest such creatures; and it would be much better for them that their faces had been seamed with the smallpox: but I must confess I never saw any of this wanton behaviour in poor Jenny [...].

   • 1874, Thomas Hardy, Far From the Madding Crowd:

     I know I ought never to have dreamt of sending that valentine—forgive me, sir—it was a wanton thing which no woman with any self-respect should have done.

   • 1946, Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, I.21:

     People should not marry too young, because, if they do, the children will be weak and female, the wives will become wanton, and the husbands stunted in their growth.

4. Capricious, reckless of morality, justice etc.; acting without regard for the law or the well-being of others; gratuitous.
   • 1811, Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility:

     Edward himself, now thoroughly enlightened on her character, had no scruple in believing her capable of the utmost meanness of wanton ill-nature.

   • 2009, Ben White, The Guardian, 10 Aug 2009:

     these developments in Gaza are a consequence of the state of siege that the tiny territory has been under – a society that has been fenced-in, starved, and seen its very fabric torn apart by unemployment and wanton military destruction.

5. (archaic) Extravagant, unrestrained, excessive.
   • 1776, Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, Book I:

     the market price will rise more or less above the natural price, according as either the greatness of the deficiency, or the wealth and wanton luxury of the competitors, happen to animate more or less the eagerness of the competition.

   • 1876, John Ruskin, Letters, 19 Jan 1876:

     But do not think it argues change of temper since I wrote the Frère review, or a wanton praise of one man and blame of another.

Synonyms

• (undisciplined): see Thesaurus:wanton
• (playful, overly happy): frolicsome, playful
• (lewd): lewd, lustful, unchaste
• (capriciously violent): inhumane, callous, merciless
• (luxuriant): extravagant, lavish, luxuriant, prodigal, unrestrained

Derived terms

• wanton kittens make sober cats

Translations

Noun

wanton (plural wantons)

1. A pampered or coddled person.
   • c. 1591-1595, William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

     I would have thee gone — / And yet no farther than a wanton's bird, / That lets it hop a little from her hand, / Like a poor prisoner in his twisted gyves, / And with a silken thread plucks it back again […]

2. An overly playful person; a trifler.

   • 1611, Ben Jonson, Oberon, the Faery Prince

     Peace, my wantons; he will do / More than you can aim unto.

   • 1898: Charles Dickens: A Critical Study by George Gissing

     This quiet remark serves to remind one, among other things that, Dickens was not without his reasons for a spirit of distrust towards religion by law established, as well as towards sundry other forms of religion--the spirit which, especially in his early career, was often misunderstood as hostility to religion in itself, a wanton mocking at sacred things.

3. A self-indulgent person, fond of excess.
4. (archaic) A lewd or immoral person, especially a prostitute.
   • 1891: Jerusalem: Its History and Hope by Mrs. Oliphant

     ...paints with tremendous force the adulteries of the two wantons Aholah and Aholibah, Israel and Judah, and their love of strangers...

   • 1936: Like the Phoenix by Anthony Bertram

     However, terrible as it may seem to the tall maiden sisters of J.P.'s in Queen Anne houses with walled vegetable gardens, this courtesan, strumpet, harlot, whore, punk, fille de joie, street-walker, this trollop, this trull, this baggage, this hussy, this drab, skit, rig, quean, mopsy, demirep, demimondaine, this wanton, this fornicatress, this doxy, this concubine, this frail sister, this poor Queenie—did actually solicit me, did actually say ‘coming home to-night, dearie’ and my soul was not blasted enough to call a policeman.

Translations

Verb

wanton (third-person singular simple present wantons, present participle wantoning, simple past and past participle wantoned)

1. (intransitive) To rove and ramble without restraint, rule, or limit; to revel; to play loosely; to frolic.
   • c. 1593, William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew, Prologue,^[1]

     […] We will fetch thee straight

     Adonis painted by a running brook,

     And Cytherea all in sedges hid,

     Which seem to move and wanton with her breath

     Even as the waving sedges play wi’ th’ wind.

   • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 5, lines 294-296,^[2]

     […] Nature here

     Wantond as in her prime, and plaid at will

     Her Virgin Fancies […]

   • c. 1820, Charles Lamb, “Christ’s Hospital, Five and Thirty Years Ago” in Essays of Elia, Paris: Baudry’s European Library, 1835, p. 15,^[3]

     How merrily we would sally into the fields; and strip under the first warmth of the sun; and wanton like young dace in the streams […]

   • 1927, Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse, London: Hogarth Press, 1930, Part 2, 9, p. 217,^[4]

     It might well be, said Mrs. McNab, wantoning on with her memories […]

2. (transitive) To waste or squander, especially in pleasure (most often with away).

   The young man wantoned away his inheritance.

   • 1660, Samuel Pepys, diary entry for 28 April, 1660, in Henry B. Wheatley (ed.), The Diary of Samuel Pepys, London: George Bell, 1905, Volume 8, p.290,^[5]

     […] with this money the King shall wanton away his time in pleasures […]

   • 1881, Christina Rossetti, Called to Be Saints, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, “St. Matthias, Apostle,” p. 153,^[6]

     […] Samson, having wantoned away his strength and paying the penalty […]

   • 1929, Witter Bynner and Jiang Kanghu (translators), “A Song of an Old General” in The Jade Mountain, New York: Vintage, 1972, p. 203,^[7]

     And never would he wanton his cause away with wine.

   • 1948, Digby George Gerahty (as Robert Standish), Elephant Walk, New York: Macmillan, 1949, Chapter 15, p. 214,^[8]

     If either of us felt the respect for George that you imply by your manner, you know perfectly well that we wouldn’t have wantoned away the day as we have.

3. (intransitive) To act wantonly; to be lewd or lascivious.
   • 1677, Hannah Woolley, The Compleat Servant-Maid, London: T. Passinger, p. 62,,^[9]

     Be loving and courteous to your fellow Servants, not gigling or idling out your time, or wantoning in the society of men […]

   • […] whole herds or flocks of other women securely, and scarce regarded, traverse the park, the play, the opera, and the assembly; and though, for the most part at least, they are at last devoured, yet for a long time do they wanton in liberty, without disturbance or controul.

Synonyms

• (to act wantonly): See Thesaurus:harlotize

Translations

Related terms

• wantonly
• wantonness
• wantonry

Anagrams

• Antwon

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General Australian, General New Zealand, General South African) enPR: fäst, IPA^(key): /f??st/
• Rhymes: -??st
• (UK, US) enPR: f?st, IPA^(key): /fæst/
• Rhymes: -æst

Etymology 1

From Middle English fast, from Old English fæst (“fast, fixed, firm, secure; constant, steadfast; stiff, heavy, dense; obstinate, bound, costive; enclosed, closed, watertight; strong, fortified”), from Proto-Germanic *fastaz, *fastijaz, *fastuz (“fast, firm, secure”); see it for cognates and further etymology.

The development of “rapid” from an original sense of “secure” apparently happened first in the adverb and then transferred to the adjective; compare hard in expressions like “to run hard”. The original sense of “secure, firm” is now slightly archaic, but retained in the related fasten (“make secure”).

Adjective

fast (comparative faster, superlative fastest)

1. (dated) Firmly or securely fixed in place; stable. [from 9th c.]

   Synonyms: firm, immobile, secure, stable, stuck, tight

   Antonym: loose

   Hyponyms: bedfast, chairfast, colorfast, fail-fast, lightfast, shamefast, soothfast, steadfast

2. Firm against attack; fortified by nature or art; impregnable; strong.

   • out-lawes […] lurking in woods and fast places

   Synonyms: fortified, impenetrable

   Antonyms: penetrable, weak

3. (of people) Steadfast, with unwavering feeling. (Now mostly in set phrases like fast friend(s).) [from 10th c.]
4. Moving with great speed, or capable of doing so; swift, rapid. [from 14th c.]

   Synonyms: quick, rapid, speedy

   1. (nuclear physics, of a neutron) Having a kinetic energy between 1 million and 20 million electron volts; often used to describe the energy state of free neutrons at the moment of their release by a nuclear fission or nuclear fusion reaction (i.e., before the neutrons have been slowed down by anything).

5. Causing unusual rapidity of play or action.

6. (computing, of a piece of hardware) Able to transfer data in a short period of time.
7. Deep or sound (of sleep); fast asleep (of people). [16th-19th c.]
   • c. 1606, William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act V, scene 1:

     Since his majesty went into the field, I have seen her rise from her bed, throw her nightgown upon her, unlock her closet, take forth paper, fold it, write upon’t, read it, afterwards seal it, and again return to bed; yet all this while in a most fast sleep.

   Synonyms: deep, sound

   Antonym: light

8. (of dyes or colours) Not running or fading when subjected to detrimental conditions such as wetness or intense light; permanent. [from 17th c.]

   Synonym: colour-fast

9. (obsolete) Tenacious; retentive.
   • 1625, Francis Bacon, Of Gardens

     Roses, damask and red, are fast flowers of their smells.

10. (dated) Having an extravagant lifestyle or immoral habits. [from 18th c.]
    • 1852, John Swaby, Physiology of the Opera (page 74)

      […] we remember once hearing a fast man suggest that they were evidently "nobs who had overdrawn the badger by driving fast cattle, and going it high" — the exact signification of which words we did not understand […]

    • 1979, Doug Fieger, "Good Girls Don't":

      You're alone with her at last / And you're waiting 'til you think the time is right / Cause you've heard she's pretty fast / And you're hoping that she'll give you some tonight.

12. Ahead of the correct time or schedule. [from 19th c.]

    Synonyms: ahead, (as in “the clock is gaining x minutes per hour/day”) gain

    Antonyms: behind, slow

13. (of photographic film) More sensitive to light than average. [from 20th c.]

Usage notes

In the context of nuclear reactors or weaponry, fission-spectrum neutrons (neutrons with the spectrum of energies produced by nuclear fission) are frequently referred to as fast neutrons, even though the majority of fission-spectrum neutrons have energies below the 1-million-electron-volt cutoff.

Synonyms

• (occurring or happening within a short time): quick, rapid, speedy, swift
• (capable of moving with great speed): see also Thesaurus:speedy
• (rapidly consents to sexual activity): easy, slutty; see also Thesaurus:promiscuous
• (firmly or securely fixed in place): see also Thesaurus:tight

Antonyms

• (occurring or happening within a short time): slow

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Adverb

fast (comparative faster, superlative fastest)

1. In a firm or secure manner, securely; in such a way as not to be moved; safe, sound [from 10th c.].
   • c. 1596-97, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act II, scene 5^[2]:

     Shylock:

     […] Do as I bid you; shut doors after you:

     Fast bind, fast find;

     A proverb never stale in thrifty mind.

   Synonyms: firmly, securely, tightly

   Antonym: loosely

2. (of sleeping) Deeply or soundly [from 13th c.].

   Synonym: deeply

   Antonym: lightly

3. Immediately following in place or time; close, very near [from 13th c.].

4. Quickly, with great speed; within a short time [from 13th c.].

   Synonyms: quickly, rapidly, speedily, swiftly

   Antonym: slowly

5. Ahead of the correct time or schedule.

   Synonym: ahead

   Antonym: behind

Translations

Noun

fast (plural fasts)

1. (Britain, rail transport) A train that calls at only some stations it passes between its origin and destination, typically just the principal stations

   Synonyms: express, express train, fast train

   Antonyms: local, slow train, stopper

Translations

Interjection

fast

1. (archery) Short for "stand fast", a warning not to pass between the arrow and the target

   Antonym: loose

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English fasten, from Old English fæstan (verb), from Proto-Germanic *fastijan?, derived from *fastuz, and thereby related to Etymology 1. Cognate with Dutch vasten, German fasten, Old Norse fasta, Gothic ???????????????????????? (fastan), Russian ???? (post). The noun is probably from Old Norse fasta.

Verb

fast (third-person singular simple present fasts, present participle fasting, simple past and past participle fasted)

1. (intransitive) To restrict one’s personal consumption, generally of food, but sometimes other things, in various manners (totally, temporally, by avoiding particular items), often for religious or medical reasons.

   Muslims fast during Ramadan and Catholics during Lent.

   • Thou didst fast and weep for the child.

Translations

Noun

fast (plural fasts)

1. The act or practice of abstaining from food or of eating very little food.

   Synonym: fasting

2. The period of time during which one abstains from or eats very little food.

Hyponyms

• dharna (India)

Derived terms

Translations

References

• fast in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• fast at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• AT&SF, ATFs, ATSF, FTAs, SAFT, TAFs, afts, fats, tafs

Danish

Etymology 1

From Old Norse fastr, from Proto-Germanic *fastuz; see it for cognates and further etymology.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fast/, [fasd?]

Adjective

fast

1. firm
2. solid
3. tight
4. fixed
5. permanent
6. regular

Inflection

Derived terms

Etymology 2

From German fast (“almost, nearly”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fast/, [fasd?]

Adverb

fast

1. (dated) almost, nearly

   Synonyms: næsten, omtrent

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the main entry.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fa?st/, [fæ??sd?]

Verb

fast

1. imperative of faste

German

Etymology 1

From Old High German fasto, compare fest. Cognate with English adverb fast.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fast/
• Homophone: fasst

Adverb

fast

1. almost; nearly

   Synonyms: beinahe, knapp, nahezu

   Antonym: ganz

2. (in a negative clause) hardly

   Synonym: kaum

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fa?st/

Verb

fast

1. inflection of fasen:
   1. second/third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person plural present indicative/imperative

Further reading

• “fast” in Duden online
• “fast” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• Friedrich Kluge (1883) , “fast”, in John Francis Davis, transl., Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, published 1891

Middle English

Etymology

From Old English fæst.

Adverb

fast

1. fast (quickly)

Descendants

• English: fast

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

From Old Norse fastr, from Proto-Germanic *fastuz; see it for cognates and further etymology.

Adjective

fast (neuter singular fast, definite singular and plural faste)

1. solid, steady, firm, fixed, permanent

Derived terms

Etymology 2

Verb

fast

1. imperative of faste

References

• “fast” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse fastr, from Proto-Germanic *fastuz; see it for cognates and further etymology. Akin to English fast.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f?st/

Adjective

fast (indefinite singular fast, definite singular and plural faste, comparative fastare, indefinite superlative fastast, definite superlative fastaste)

1. solid, steady, firm, fixed, permanent, stuck

Derived terms

References

• “fast” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old Saxon

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *fast?, from Proto-Germanic *fastuz; see it for cognates and further etymology.

Adjective

fast

1. solid, firm

Declension

Romanian

Etymology

From French faste.

Noun

fast n (uncountable)

1. splendour, pomp

Declension

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Swedish faster, from Old Norse fastr, from Proto-Germanic *fastuz; see it for cognates and further etymology.

Pronunciation

Adjective

fast

1. caught (unable to move freely), captured

2. firm, fastened, unmoving

3. solid (as opposed to liquid)

4. although (short form of fastän)

Declension

Related terms

Adverb

fast

1. fixed, firmly, steadily (synonymous to the adjective)

2. almost, nearly

Conjunction

fast

1. although, even though

Related terms

Anagrams

• fats, saft, staf