avast
Americanverb
Etymology
Origin of avast
1675–85; perhaps < Dutch houd vast hold fast ( hold 1, fast 1 )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Look, to be honest with you, I am an avast carnivore, but I really adhere to the Southeast Asian model of meat eating.
From Salon • Jul. 3, 2021
He answered questions so unhesitatingly, in such swift accents, that the shorthand reporters had to ask him to avast and go more slowly.
From Time Magazine Archive
In a few minutes the second mate came up, hallooing to us to "avast," and laughing.
From Ned Myers or, a Life Before the Mast by Cooper, James Fenimore
"Bing avast, bing avast!" replied his companion; "yon other is rattling Reginald Lowestoffe of the Temple—I know him; he is a good boy, and free of the province."
From The Fortunes of Nigel by Scott, Walter, Sir
His chief desire with regard to the other people in the play is that they should "belay there, avast!"
From Stage-Land by Jerome, Jerome K. (Jerome Klapka)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
