avast
English
Etymology
From the Dutch hou vast (“hold tight”).
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /əˈvɑːst/
- (General American) IPA(key): /əˈvæst/
Audio (AU) (file) - Rhymes: -æst, -ɑːst
Interjection
avast
- (nautical) hold fast!; desist!; stay!.
- 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 17, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, OCLC 57395299, page 93:
- “I don’t allow it; I won’t have my premises spoiled. Go for the locksmith, there’s one about a mile from here. But avast!” putting her hand in her side-pocket, “here’s a key that’ll fit, I guess; let’s see.”
- 1914, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Mucker, All-Story Cavalier Weekly:
- "Avast there!" cried the captain, and as though to punctuate his remark he swung the heavy stick he usually carried full upon the back of Billy's head.
-
- (slang, in imitation of pirates) listen!; pay attention!
- Avast, ye landlubbers!
Usage notes
- “Avast hauling!” (meaning, “stop hauling”) is (or was, in 1950) still commonly used in U.S. Navy deck operations.
- The slang use in imitation of pirate talk is based on a misconstruction of the meaning. If uttered by a historical sailor, the meaning of the sentence “Avast, ye Matey” would have been, “Desist, you novice seamen”.
Synonyms
- (hold fast): See Thesaurus:avast
- (pay attention): See Thesaurus:heads up
Anagrams
- Vasta, tavas
Estonian
Noun
avast
- elative singular of ava
Tocharian B
Alternative forms
- avasth
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Sanskrit अवस्था (avasthā).
Noun
avast ?
- condition, state
Derived terms
- avasthaṣṣe
Further reading
- Adams, Douglas Q. (2013), “avast(h)”, in A Dictionary of Tocharian B: Revised and Greatly Enlarged (Leiden Studies in Indo-European; 10), Amsterdam, New York: Rodopi, →ISBN, page 32