hasty meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

hasty

adj

/ˈheɪsti/

Etymology From Middle English hasty, of obscure origin. Likely a new formation in Middle English equivalent to haste + -y, found as in other Germanic languages (Old Frisian hâstich, Middle Dutch haestich (> 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”), ultimately of the same Germanic origin.

8 senses

1Acting or done in haste; hurried or too quick; speedy…
2Made in haste.
3Ripening or coming to maturity early.
4Eager or impatient to act or get something done.
5Characterized by undue quickness of action, and thus…
6Speedy, quick, rapid (without necessarily lacking time).
7Irritable, irascible; quickly or easily excited to anger.
8Heavy, violent.

Acting or done in haste; hurried or too quick; speedy due to having little time.

Without much thinking about it they made a hasty decision to buy it.
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.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

3 more examples

I have written these hasty lines in no small hurry, and send them to you, not from an opinion, that they contain any thing worth imparting, but merely in compliance with your and Mr Simon's request[…]1756, Royal society of London, The Philosophical Transactions and Collections: Abridged and Disposed Under General Heads, page 627:
Watch yourself, be the first to ask pardon if you both err, and guard against the little piques, misunderstandings, and hasty words that often pave the way for bitter sorrow and regret.1868, Louisa May Alcott, Little Women:
But about three o'clock George's ear caught the hasty and decided click of a horse's hoof coming behind them at some distance and jogged Phineas by the elbow.1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin:

Made in haste.

Sommer Hony, or hasty hony, made in thirty dales after the tenth of June.1577, B. Googe, Herebach's Husb., IV, page 184 (quoted in the NED)
[We] built a hasty fort of sawlogs and boulders back of our campsite, well stocked with powder and ball, water and meat, in case there was trouble.2013 October 8, Robert F. Jones, Deadville: A Novel, Skyhorse, →ISBN:

Ripening or coming to maturity early.

... how to make the trees themselves more tall, more spread, and more hasty and sudden than they use to be.1826 [1626], Francis Bacon, The Works of Francis Bacon, Lord Chancellor of England: Containing Sylva sylvarum: or, a natural history, In ten centuries, page 209:
I speke not of hasty pees, for they be sowen before Christmasse1767, Robert Vansittart, Certain Ancient Tracts Concerning the Management of Landed Property Reprinted, page 14:

Eager or impatient to act or get something done.

... the Queene is not so hasty of your death.1877 [????], No-body, No-body and some-body [a comedy. supplied in MS.]:
... how is it that ye be so hasty to […] departe hens?1882, Sir Sidney L. Lee, The Boke of Duke Huon of Burdeaux,., page 227:

Characterized by undue quickness of action, and thus lacking careful thought or consideration; rash, precipitate.

a hasty decision, a hasty assertion
... to give too hasty belief to pretended miracles,[…]1839 [?], Thomas Hobbes, The English Works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury, page 435:

Archaic Speedy, quick, rapid (without necessarily lacking time).

This people hathe a swyfte hasty speche.1895 [1511], Pietro Martire d' Anghiera, Sebastian Münster, The First Three English Books on America, Westminster : A. Constable:
Thys wolfbayne of all poysones is the most hastye poison.1861, Alexander Irvine, The Phytologist: A Botanical Journal, page 144:

Irritable, irascible; quickly or easily excited to anger.

his hasty temperament
The natural disposition of Theodosius was hasty and choleric;[…]1840, Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, page 321:

2 more examples

... I spake eny hasty worde […]1883 [1534], The Boke of Duke Huon of Burdeux, Done Into English by Sir John Bourchier, Lord Berners, and Printed by Wynkyn de Worde about 1534, page 145:
To say that such a one has rather a hasty temper, or that he is difficult to get on with, or that he is too fond of having his own way, is hardly, in the opinion of many people, to say anything really to his discredit;[…]1891, Arthur's Home Magazine, page 411:

Of rain Heavy, violent.

Hasty rain liberates flukes' eggs from sheep's droppings, and splashes them round about upon the circumjacent herbage; but healthy sheep, protected by their nose, are in little danger here of swallowing these eggs […]1862, James Beart SIMONDS, The Rot in Sheep: Its Nature, Cause, Treatment, and Prevention. Illustrated, Etc, page 15:
... hasty rain. When we came home we found Cousin Gwinn Harris and wife at our home. In the evening there was still another rain. These rains are all alike (hard and hasty).[…]1990, David Golightly Harris, Piedmont Farmer: The Journals of David Golightly Harris, 1855-1870, Univ. of Tennessee Press, →ISBN, page 149:

1 more example

'[…] rain divert me, although it is coming down hasty.'2020 August 20, Evie Grace, The Golden Maid, Random House, →ISBN:

Derived terms: beat a hasty retreat, hastily, hastiness, hasty breaching, hasty generalization, hasty pudding, hasty-witted, overhasty, unhasty
Related terms: haste, hasteful, hasten, hurried