handfast

名词 n. 动词 v. 形容词 adj.
中文释义

英文释义

名词 n.
  1. A hold, grasp; custody, power of confining or keeping. obsolete
    — And the remembrancer of her to hold The hand-fast to her lord. I have given him that
  2. A contract, agreement, covenant; specifically betrothal, espousal. obsolete
动词 v.
  1. To pledge; to bind. transitive
  2. To betroth by joining hands, in order to allow for cohabitation before the celebration of marriage; to marry provisionally. Scotland,transitive
    — No, Sir Priest or Sir Preacher, Catherine is not my wife— […] she is not my wife, but she is handfasted with me, and that makes her as honest a woman. [...] When we are handfasted, as we term it, we are man and wife for a year and a day—that space gone by, each may chuse another mate, or, at their pleasure, may call the priest to marry them for life—and this we call handfasting.
形容词 adj.
  1. Fast by contract; betrothed by joining hands. obsolete
    — A vyrgine made handfast to Christ.
  2. Strong; steadfast. rare

词形变化

handfasts plural handfasts present,singular,third-person handfasting participle,present handfasted participle,past handfasted past more handfast comparative most handfast superlative

词源

词源 1
From Middle English hondfast, past participle of Middle English hondfesten (“to betroth”), from Old Norse handfesta (“to strike a bargain, pledge”), itself from hönd (“hand”) + festa (“to fasten, fix, affirm”), perhaps from a Proto-Indo-European root *pHst-.
词源 2
Calque of German handfest, itself from Hand (“hand”) + fest (“firm, strong”).
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