Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Fastness
1.
The state of being fast and firm; firmness; fixedness; security; faithfulness.
All . . . places of
fastness
[are] laid open. Sir J. Davies.
2.
A fast place; a stronghold; a fortress or fort; a secure retreat; a castle;
as, the enemy retired to their
. fastnesses
in the mountains3.
Conciseness of style.
[Obs.]
Ascham.
4.
The state of being fast or swift.
Webster 1828 Edition
Fastness
F'ASTNESS
, n.1.
The state of being fast and firm; firm adherence.2.
Strength; security.The places of fastness are laid open.
3.
A strong hold; a fortress or fort; a place fortified; a castle. The enemy retired to their fastnesses.4.
Closeness; conciseness of style. [Not used.]Definition 2024
fastness
fastness
English
Noun
fastness (countable and uncountable, plural fastnesses)
- A secure or fortified place; a stronghold, a fortress
- 1917, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “chapter VII”, in A Princess of Mars, archive.org, published 1917:
- The incubators are built in remote fastnesses, where there is little or no likelihood of their being discovered by other tribes.
- 1919, W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, ch. 4
- When she came to know writers it was like adventuring upon a stage which till then she had known only from the other side of the footlights. She saw them dramatically, and really seemed herself to live a larger life because she entertained them and visited them in their fastnesses.
-
- The state of being fast.
- The ability of a dye to withstand fading