FAST DAY • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Fast day

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/fæst deɪ/ Listen

noun

Fast n.

Abstinence from food; omission to take nourishment. "Surfeit is the father of much fast."

Voluntary abstinence from food, for a space of time, as a spiritual discipline, or as a token of religious humiliation.

A time of fasting, whether a day, week, or longer time; a period of abstinence from food or certain kinds of food; as, an annual fast.

Fast day, a day appointed for fasting, humiliation, and religious offices as a means of invoking the favor of God.

To break one's fast, to put an end to a period of abstinence by taking food; especially, to take one's morning meal; to breakfast.

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Etymology of 'Fast day'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Fast day" Quotes from Famous Books

... from the land, and when the dinner hour arrived they found that the lord admiral had provided a most sumptuous banquet on board. Just before the time, however, for setting down to the table, the duke found that it was a Catholic fast day, and that neither his mother nor any of her attendants, being, as they were, all Catholics, could eat any thing but fish; and, unfortunately, as all James's men were Protestants, they had not thought of the fast, and they had no fish on board. They, however, contrived to produce ...

— History of King Charles II of England • Jacob Abbott

... Fast Day came, and again the eyes of Miss Newville flashed when she saw the king's troops parading the streets; the drummers and fifers taking their stations by the doors of the meetinghouses to annoy the people, ...

— Daughters of the Revolution and Their Times - 1769 - 1776 A Historical Romance • Charles Carleton Coffin

... and manager of his fraternity, conducting the farming operations and making all the bargains, following his rule respectably according to the ordinary standard of his time, but not rising to any spirituality, and while duly observing the fast day, as to the quality of his food, eating with the appetite of a man who lived in the ...

— The Armourer's Prentices • Charlotte M. Yonge

... disappointment at my not seeing the joke. He repeated it—"fast day, fast day"—then glared at me, and his underlip fell. At last the old man tossed his head, and whipped his boot with his crop. I have no doubt I deprived that man of a great deal of happiness; for if anything is disappointing to a punster, it is not seeing his joke. He had not done ...

— The Reminiscences Of Sir Henry Hawkins (Baron Brampton) • Henry Hawkins Brampton

... To the Committee of Safety of the Town of Exeter: GENTLEMEN,—As I am informed that Mr. Stivers is in confinement in gaol upon my account contrary to my desire, for when I was at Mr. Stivers a fast day I had no ill nor ment none against the Gentleman but by bad luck or misfortune I have received a bad Blow but it is so well that I hope to go out in a day or two. So by this gentlemen of the Committee I hope you will release ...

— An Old Town By The Sea • Thomas Bailey Aldrich