make haste

Idioms  

1. Also, make it snappy. Hurry up, move or act quickly, as in If you don't make haste we'll be late, or Make it snappy, kids. The first expression was first recorded in Miles Coverdale's 1535 translation of the Bible (Psalms 39:13): “Make haste, O Lord, to help me.” The variant dates from the early 1900s and uses snappy in the sense of “resembling a sudden jerk.” The oxymoron make haste slowly, dating from the mid-1700s, is a translation of the Latin festina lente. It is used either ironically, to slow someone down (as in You'll do better if you make haste slowly), or to comment sarcastically on a lack of progress (as in So far the committee has been making haste slowly).

---

Example Sentences

Then it will turn west and make haste: “We’re gonna gun it for the delta,” Stack Morgan says.

From Scientific American

As she headed back to the warehouse, her dispatcher encouraged her to make haste to beat the tornado, she said.

From Seattle Times

“We can’t, for something has been said, and Laurie’s mischief has spoiled you for me. I see it, and so does Mother. You are not like your old self a bit, and seem ever so far away from me. I don’t mean to plague you and will bear it like a man, but I do wish it was all settled. I hate to wait, so if you mean ever to do it, make haste and have it over quickly,” said Jo pettishly.

From Literature

“Faced with these uncertainties, we expect the RBA to make haste slowly, commencing a tightening cycle from mid-2023 onwards.”

From Reuters

“There! you will find it scarcely more legible than a crumpled, scratched page. Read on: only make haste, for I suffer.”

From Literature

Related Words

• barrel
• bolt
• break
• charge
• chase
• dash
• dispatch
• fly
• hustle
• press
• push
• run
• scramble
• scurry
• shoot
• sprint
• zip