Haste (?), n. [OE. hast; akin to D. haast, G., Dan., Sw., & OFries. hast, cf. OF. haste, F. hate (of German origin); all perh. fr. the root of E. hate in a earlier sense of, to pursue. See Hate.] 1. Celerity of motion; speed; swiftness; dispatch; expedition; -- applied only to voluntary beings, as men and other animals.
The king's business required haste.
1 Sam. xxi. 8.
2. The state of being urged or pressed by business; hurry; urgency; sudden excitement of feeling or passion; precipitance; vehemence.
I said in my haste, All men are liars.
Ps. cxvi. 11.
To make haste, to hasten.
Syn. -- Speed; quickness; nimbleness; swiftness; expedition; dispatch; hurry; precipitance; vehemence; precipitation. -- Haste, Hurry, Speed, Dispatch. Haste denotes quickness of action and a strong desire for getting on; hurry includes a confusion and want of collected thought not implied in haste; speed denotes the actual progress which is made; dispatch, the promptitude and rapidity with which things are done. A man may properly be in haste, but never in a hurry. Speed usually secures dispatch.
© Webster 1913.
Haste, v. t. & i. [imp. & p. p. Hasted; p. pr. & vb. n. Hasting.] [OE. hasten; akin to G. hasten, D. haasten, Dan. haste, Sw. hasta, OF. haster, F. hater. See Haste, n.] To hasten; to hurry. [Archaic]
I 'll haste the writer.
Shak.
They were troubled and hasted away.
Ps. xlviii. 5.
© Webster 1913. | 
