GC: n
S: NCBI – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10142171/ (last access: 14 December 2023); WebMD – https://www.webmd.com/obesity/ss/slideshow-fasting-overview (last access: 14 December 2023).
N: 1. – fast (n): “act of fasting,” late Old English fæsten “voluntary abstinence from food and drink or from certain kinds of food,” especially, but not necessarily, as a religious duty; either from the verb in Old English or from Old Norse fasta “a fast, fasting, season for fasting,” from a Proto-Germanic noun formed from the verbal root of fast (v.). In earlier Old English fæsten meant “fortress, cloister, enclosure, prison.”
– fast (v): “abstain from food,” Old English fæstan “to fast” (as a religious duty), also “to make firm; establish, confirm, pledge,” from Proto-Germanic *fastanan “to hold, guard,” extended to the religious act “observe abstinence” (source also of Old Frisian festia, Old High German fasten, German fasten, Old Norse fasta “abstain from food”), from the same root as fast (adj.).
The original meaning in prehistoric Germanic was “hold firmly,” and the sense evolved via “have firm control of oneself,” to “hold oneself to observance” (compare Gothic fastan “to keep, observe,” also “to fast”). Perhaps the Germanic sense shifted through use of the native words to translate Medieval Latin observare in its sense “to fast,” or it might have been a loan-translation of a Greek expression brought to the Goths by Arian missionaries and spread from them to other Germanic peoples. The verb in the sense “to make fast” continued in Middle English, but was superseded by fasten.
2. “fast” as a noun: I. the practice of fasting. II. a time of fasting.
3. During a fast, maintenance of blood glucose levels initially relies on glycogen stores in the liver and skeletal muscle. Glycogen is made up of chains of polymerized glucose monosaccharides that are used for energy by the process of glycogenolysis. Most glycogen is stored in the liver, which has the greatest role in the maintenance of blood glucose during the first 24 hours of a fast.
4. A fast usually lasts from 12 to 24 hours, but some types continue for days at a time. In some cases, you may be allowed water, tea, and coffee or even a small amount of food during the “fasting period.”
5. Collocations: fast (noun).
– ADJ. long | brief
– VERB + FAST go on, keep, observe All members of the religious community keep these fasts. | break In the evening the people break their fast.
6. Cultural Interrelation: We can mention A Hunger Artist (1922) by Franz Kafka (1883-1924).
S: 1 & 3. Etymonline – https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=fasting (last access: 11 December 2023). 2. MW – https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fast (last access: 14 December 2023). 3. NCBI – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK534877/ (last access: 14 December 2023). 4. WebMD – https://www.webmd.com/obesity/ss/slideshow-fasting-overview (last access: 12 December 2023). 5. OCD – https://www.freecollocation.com/search?word=fast (last access: 12 December 2023). 6. Amazon – https://www.amazon.es/Hunger-Artist-Franz-Kafka/dp/1493770217 (last access: 12 December 2023).
SYN: fasting (depending on context)
S: WebMD – https://www.webmd.com/obesity/ss/slideshow-fasting-overview (last access: 11 December 2023); NIH – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK534877/ (last access: 11 December 2023); TERMIUM PLUS – https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-eng.html?lang=eng&i=1&srchtxt=fast&codom2nd_wet=1#resultrecs (last access: 14 December 2023).
