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avast. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
avast, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
avast in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
avast you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
From the Dutch hou vast (“hold tight”).
Pronunciation
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, 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 misconstrual 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
Anagrams
Estonian
Noun
avast
- elative singular of ava
Tocharian B
Alternative forms
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Sanskrit अवस्था (avasthā).
Noun
avast ?
- condition, state
Derived terms
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