Fast (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p.Fasted; p. pr. & vb. n.Fasting.] [AS. fæstan; akin to D. vasten, OHG. fastēn, G. fasten, Icel. & Sw. fasta, Dan. faste, Goth. fastan to keep, observe, fast, and prob. to E. fast firm.] 1. To abstain from food; to omit to take nourishment in whole or in part; to go hungry.
Fasting he went to sleep, and fasting waked. Milton.
2. To practice abstinence as a religious exercise or duty; to abstain from food voluntarily for a time, for the mortification of the body or appetites, or as a token of grief, or humiliation and penitence.
Thou didst fast and weep for the child. 2 Sam. xii. 21.
Fasting day, a fast day; a day of fasting.