hasten - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Originally intransitive, from haste +‎ -en (verbal suffix).

hasten (third-person singular simple present hastens, present participle hastening, simple past and past participle hastened)

  1. (intransitive) To move or act in a quick fashion.
  2. (transitive) To make someone speed up or make something happen quicker.
    • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:
      Hamlet:
      Bid the players make haste.
      Will you two help to hasten them?
    • 1956 May, C. H. Betts, “St. Pancras Tunnel Signalbox”, in Railway Magazine, page 320:
      A dearth of signalmen and the high cost of labour is hastening an elimination process that already was well under way before the second world war.
  3. (transitive) To cause some scheduled event to happen earlier.
    • 1960 February, R. C. Riley, “The London-Birmingham services - Past, Present and Future”, in Trains Illustrated, page 96:
      The decision to hasten completion of the electrification of London Midland Region main lines from Euston to the north and the subsequent diversion of some traffic to the Western Region in order to allow the engineers fuller track occupation, have focused attention on the two main routes between London, Birmingham and Wolverhampton.
    • 2008, Bradley Simpson, Economists with Guns, page 7:
      […] and prescribed policies and packages of military, economic and technical assistance to hasten their inevitable march toward development and modernity.

to move in a quick fashion

to make someone/something speed up

to cause a scheduled event to happen earlier

hasten

  1. imperfect participle of hasi (“to start”)

hasten c

  1. definite singular of hast

hasten

  1. genitive plural of hapsi

Hast +‎ -en

hasten (weak, third-person singular present hastet, past tense hastete, past participle gehastet, auxiliary sein) (intransitive)

  1. to hurry, to rush (on foot, in an anxious or breathless haste)
    Synonyms: eilen, rennen, stürmen
    Antonyms: trödeln, trotten
    Ich hastete zur Tür. ― I rushed to the door.

Composed forms of hasten (weak, auxiliary sein)

hasten

  1. definite singular of hast