Blend of Middle English hasten, (compare Dutch haasten, German hasten, Danish haste, Swedish hasta) and Middle English hast, from Old French haste (whence French - hâte), from Old Frankish *haifsti, from Proto-Germanic *haifstiz, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱeyp-.

• IPA: /heɪst/

haste (uncountable)

1. Speed; swiftness; dispatch.

   We were running late so we finished our meal in haste.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, 1 Samuel 12:8 ↗:

     The king's business required haste.

2. (obsolete) Urgency; sudden excitement of feeling or passion; precipitance; vehemence.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Psalms 116:11 ↗:

     I said in my haste, All men are liars.

• French: hâte
• German: Eile, Hast
• Portuguese: pressa
• Russian: спе́шка
• Spanish: prisa, premura

haste (hastes, present participle hasting; simple past and past participle hasted)

1. (transitive, archaic) To urge onward; to hasten.
   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act II, scene ii], page 168 ↗:

     Baſſ. You may doe ſo, but let it be ſo haſted that ſupper be readie at the fartheſt by fiue of the clocke.

2. (intransitive, archaic) To move with haste.

• (move with haste) hurry, rush, scamper, scramble, scurry

Metonymic occupation surname for someone who turned the spit for roasting meat, from Old French haste.

1. Surname.