vast
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle French vaste, from Latin vastus (“void, immense”).
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
vast (comparative vaster or more vast, superlative vastest or most vast)
- Very large or wide (literally or figuratively).
- The Sahara desert is vast.
- There is a vast difference between them.
- Very great in size, amount, degree, intensity, or especially extent.
- 1658, Thomas Browne, “The Garden of Cyrus. […]. Chapter III.”, in Hydriotaphia, Urne-buriall, […] Together with The Garden of Cyrus, […], London: Printed for Hen[ry] Brome […], OCLC 48702491; reprinted as Hydriotaphia (The English Replicas), New York, N.Y.: Payson & Clarke Ltd., 1927, OCLC 78413388, page 136:
- The exiguity and ſmallneſſe of ſome ſeeds extending to large productions is one of the magnalities of nature, ſomewhat illuſtrating the work of the Creation, and vaſt production from nothing.
- 2012 March-April, Anna Lena Phillips, “Sneaky Silk Moths”, in American Scientist[1], volume 100, number 2, page 172:
- Last spring, the periodical cicadas emerged across eastern North America. Their vast numbers and short above-ground life spans inspired awe and irritation in humans—and made for good meals for birds and small mammals.
- (obsolete) Waste; desert; desolate; lonely.
- William Shakespeare, the Life and Death of Richard the Third Act I, scene IV:
- the empty, vast, and wandering air
- William Shakespeare, the Life and Death of Richard the Third Act I, scene IV:
TranslationsEdit
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NounEdit
vast (plural vasts)
- (poetic) A vast space
- 1608: they have seemed to be together, though absent, shook hands, as over a vast, and embraced, as it were, from the ends of opposed winds. — William Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale, I.i
Derived termsEdit
AnagramsEdit
DutchEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle Dutch vast, from Old Dutch fast, from Proto-Germanic *fastuz; see it for cognates and further etymology.
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
vast (comparative vaster, superlative meest vast or vastst)
- firm, fast, tight
- fixed, not moving or changing
- vaste lasten
- fixed costs
- stuck, unable to get out
- (chemistry) in the solid state
- (botany) perennial
- (of a telephone) using a landline
InflectionEdit
| Inflection of vast | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| uninflected | vast | |||
| inflected | vaste | |||
| comparative | vaster | |||
| positive | comparative | superlative | ||
| predicative/adverbial | vast | vaster | het vastst het vastste | |
| indefinite | m./f. sing. | vaste | vastere | vastste |
| n. sing. | vast | vaster | vastste | |
| plural | vaste | vastere | vastste | |
| definite | vaste | vastere | vastste | |
| partitive | vasts | vasters | — | |
Derived termsEdit
AdverbEdit
vast
- surely, certainly
- (informal, sarcastically) sure, yeah, right
- Mijn hond at mijn huiswerk. — Ja, vast!
- My dog ate my homework. — Yeah, right!
SynonymsEdit
VerbEdit
vast
- first-, second- and third-person singular present indicative of vasten
- imperative of vasten
EstonianEdit
EtymologyEdit
Of Finno-Mordvinic or Finno-Volgaic origin. Cognate to Finnish vasta, Votic vassa, Northern Sami vuostá, Erzya вастомс (vastoms, “to meet; to receive”), Moksha васта (vasta, “place; distance”) and possibly Western Mari ваштареш (βaštareš, “against; across”).[1]
AdverbEdit
vast
Derived termsEdit
ReferencesEdit
LivonianEdit
LudianEdit
RomaniEdit
EtymologyEdit
Perhaps (unlikely, as the 'st' in Sanskrit would definitely have shifted to 'tt' or 't') from Sanskrit हस्त (hásta), from Proto-Indo-Aryan *źʰástas, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *ĵʰástas, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰés-to- (“hand”) < *ǵʰes-. Compare Punjabi ਹੱਥ (hatth), Hindi हाथ (hāth), Bengali হাত (hat); compare also Persian دست (dast).
NounEdit
vast m (plural vast)