Naut. Also 5 fest. [ME. fest, a. ON. fest-r, f. festa to fasten, f. fast-r FAST a. In mod.Eng. assimilated to the adj.] A rope, etc. by which a ship or boat is fastened to a wharf.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 158/1. Fest or teyynge of a schyppe, or bootys, scalamus.
1678. Littleton, Lat. Dict., Fast … rope to fasten a boat or ship, prymnesium.
1763. S. T. Janssen, Smuggling laid open, 222. The Captain at the same Time employed Mr. Sidebotham, His Majesty’s Officer in the Isle of Man, to cast off his Fasts, fastened on Shore.
1840. R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xxix. 104. The topsails were at the mast-head, the fast just ready to be cast off.
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., I. iii. 35. After five hours’ hard heaving, we succeeded in changing our fasts to another berg, quite near the free water.
1863. Robson, Bards of Tyne, 246, The Quayside Shaver.
| There keelmen just landed, swear, ‘May they be stranded’ | |
| If they’re not shav’d first while their keel’s at the fest! |
† 2. = ANCHOR-HOLD. Obs.
1638. T. Jackson, Creed, IX. xv. Wks. 1673, II. 984. The cable [may be] very strong, when the fest or Anchor-hold is slippery. Ibid., IX. xix. II. 998.
