posthaste
See also: post-haste and post haste
English
WOTD – 22 June 2006
Alternative forms
Etymology
From the former instruction on letters ‘haste, post, haste’, later reinterpreted as a compound of post + haste.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˌpəʊstˈheɪst/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˌpoʊstˈheɪst/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (AU) (file)
Adverb
posthaste (not comparable)
- quickly, as fast as someone travelling post; with great speed
- It is imperative that you finish your task posthaste.
- 1946, Paramahansa Yogananda, “Chapter 17”, in Autobiography of a Yogi:
- "Sasi cannot last through the night." These words from his physician, and the spectacle of my friend, now reduced almost to a skeleton, sent me posthaste to Serampore.
Synonyms
- (quickly): ASAP, quickly
- See also Thesaurus:quickly
Noun
posthaste (uncountable)
- Alternative spelling of post-haste
- c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals), page 1, lines 103-106:
- "And this, I take it,
Is the main motive of our preparations
The source of this our watch, and the chief head
Of this post-haste and rummage in the land."
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.