speedy

adj, verb — 3 senses

speedy

adj

/ˈspiː.di/

Etymology From Middle English spedy, spedi, from Old English spēdiġ (“having good speed, lucky, prosperous; having means, wealthy, opulent, rich in material wealth; rich in, abounding in, abundant, plenteous, copious; powerful”), from Proto-Germanic *spōdigaz (“successful, hurried”), equivalent to speed + -y. Cognate with Scots speedy (“speedy”), Dutch spoedig (“speedy, swift, rapid, quick”), German sputig, spudig (“industrious, speedy”).

1

Proceeding with or characterized by high speed; rapid.

  • " Without further parley, upon their knees they fell most devoutly, and for helpe on heaven never ceased extensively to intercessionate God, for his speedie recoverie.1594, Thomas Nash, “The Terrors of the Night”, in Anecdotes of Literature and Scarce Books, volume I, published 1807, →OCLC, page 270:
  • They turned out to be speedy machines and earned the sobriquet "Greyhounds", giving excellent performances on the Exeter run.1951 November, David R. Webb, “The Drummond 4-4-0 Locomotives”, in Railway Magazine, page 774:
1 more example
  • After some quite speedy constructional work the line was opened to traffic on January 2, 1865.1961 October, 'Voyageur', “The Cockermouth, Keswick & Penrith Railway”, in Trains Illustrated, page 598:
Synonyms
27 termscursory, express, fast, expeditious, feverish, fleet, fleeting, greased lightning, hasty, hectic, hectical, hyperactive, immediate, lightning fast, nimble, post haste, precipitant, quick, quick as a flash, quicksome, rapid, speedful, speedy, spit-spot, swift, tripsome, zippy
Antonyms
slow
Derived terms
overspeedy, speedily, speediness, speedy delete, speedy deletion, Speedy Gonzales, superspeedy, unspeedy
Related terms
quickly, active, rush, animated, enthusiastic, ephemeral

speedy

verb

Etymology From Middle English spedy, spedi, from Old English spēdiġ (“having good speed, lucky, prosperous; having means, wealthy, opulent, rich in material wealth; rich in, abounding in, abundant, plenteous, copious; powerful”), from Proto-Germanic *spōdigaz (“successful, hurried”), equivalent to speed + -y. Cognate with Scots speedy (“speedy”), Dutch spoedig (“speedy, swift, rapid, quick”), German sputig, spudig (“industrious, speedy”).

1

To process in a faster than normal, accelerated way.

  • “[…] the Treaty between the King and the Parliament may be speedied; and that Care may be taken, to prevent the casting of the Two Kingdoms into War and Blood.”1647, [uncredited], Journals of the House of Lords (House of Lords), volume 10, page 389:
  • […] for the purpose of proceeding to the immediate sale of the goods under seizure, with the view of speedying the exercise of their rights on the proceeds of the sale of the goods seized.1871, The Mauritius Reports, page 46:
2

To apply the speedy rule in an online community (often the deletion rule); to speedy delete.

  • The guy is *not* so obviously insignificant that speedying him is appropriate.

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.