Meanings
fastly1
comparative more fastly · superlative most fastly
- In a secure or firm manner; securely
We tied the rope fastly this time; we didn't want it to get away again.
1 more example
Before them was a door which apparently led into the grand apartments; this was fastly secured, but it yielded to their united strength, and they entered a lofty hall, whose concave top was supported by pillars.
1843, Thomas Archer, Roderick Dhu, Clan Alpine's Chief, or, the Scottish outlaw
fastly2
comparative more fastly · superlative most fastly
- nonstandardquickly
Determined in his death, and chasing him, he ran fastly to the 'Mission House,' and under Mrs. Richardson's bed he was sheltered and saved.
1885, The Missionary Herald of the Baptist Missionary Society, page 1625 more examples
A reuerend man that graz’d his cattell ny, / Sometime a bluſterer that the ruffle knew / Of Court of Cittie, and had let go by / The ſwifteſt houres obſerued as they flew, / Towards this afflicted fancy faſtly drew: / And priuiledg’d by age deſires to know / In breefe the grounds and motiues of her wo.
1609, William Shakespeare, “A Louers Complaint”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC, signatures K2, recto – K2, versoAnother time, my Mother seeing them come fastly to her house, my brother gave the key of his desk to my sister, bidding her convey the money somewhither; […]
a. 1661, Isaac Tullie, A Narrative of the Siege of Carlisle, in 1644 and 1645. […], Whitehaven, Cumbria: Michael Moon’s Bookshop, published 1840 (1988 facsimile), →ISBN, page 13Rope, Cord, or Strap, in the Manage, is any of theſe tied round a Pillar to which the Horſe is faſtned when they begin to quicken and ſupple and teach him to flee from the Shambner, and not gallop faſtly or incompactly.
1728, E[phraim] Chambers, “Rope”, in Cyclopædia: Or, An Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences; […] In Two Volumes, volumes II (I–Z), London: […] James and John Knapton [et al.], →OCLC, page 1031, column 1Yes, ’tis the hand / Of death I feel press heavy on my vitals, / Slow sapping the warm current of existence. / My moments now are few—The sand of life / Ebbs fastly to its finish.
a. 1807, Henry Kirke White, “Written in the Prospect of Death”, in The Remains of Henry Kirke White, of Nottingham, […], volume II, London: […] [F]or Vernor, Hood, and Sharpe; […] by W. Wilson, published 1808, page 84During these twelve days the life of the child was fastly on the wane; and all this time Emily tended him with an assiduity and tender solicitude that never flagged.
1859, Kinahan Cornwallis, chapter IX, in A Panorama of the New World. […], volume I, London: T[homas] C[autley] Newby, […], page 207
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
fastly · adverb
- Proto-West Germanic*fastulīkê“securely, firmly”
- Proto-West Germanic*fastulīkē
- Old Englishfæstlīċe“firmly, constantly”
- Middle Englishfastly
- Englishfastly
From Middle English fastly, fastliche, festliche, from Old English fæstlīċe (“firmly, constantly”), from Proto-West Germanic *fastulīkē, from Proto-West Germanic *fastulīkê (“securely, firmly”); equivalent to fast + -ly.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic
Full word history & related roots →fastly · adverb
- Middle Englishfastliche
- Englishfastly
From Middle English fastliche, fastly; equivalent to fast + -ly.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
fastly. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fastly
“fastly.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fastly. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “fastly,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fastly.
Source: fastly on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.