speed
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /spiːd/
rhymes: -iːd
Forms: form: speeds
form: speeding
form: sped
form: sped
form: speeded
form: speeded
Etymology: From Middle English speden, from Old English spēdan (“to speed, prosper, succeed, have success”), from Proto-West Germanic *spōdijan (“to succeed”).
Cognate with Scots spede, speid (“to meet with success, assist, promote, accomplish, speed”), Dutch spoeden (“to hurry, rush”), Low German spoden, spöden (“to hasten, speed”), German sputen, spuden (“to speed”).
Senses: examples: text: And yf I maye fynde suche a knyghte that hath all these vertues / he may drawe oute this swerd oute of the shethe / for I haue ben at kyng Ryons / it was told me ther were passyng good knyghtes / and he and alle his knyghtes haue assayed it and none can spede
ref: 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter 1, in Le Morte Darthur, book I:
text: We have been praying for our husbands' healths,
Which speed, we hope, the better for our words.
Are they returned?
ref: c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
text: Aristotle must find out the motion of Euripus; Pliny must needs see Vesuvius; but how sped they? One loseth goods, another his life.
ref: 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition I, section 2, member 4, subsection vii:
text: 18ᵗʰc., Oliver Goldsmith, Introductory to Switzerland
At night returning, every labor sped, / He sits him down the monarch of a shed: / Smiles by his cheerful fire, and round surveys, / His children’s looks, that brighten at the blaze;
glosses: To succeed; to prosper, be lucky.
examples: text: God speed, until we meet again.
text: Fortune speed us! So we set forth to sea
ref: c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv]:
text: with rising gales that sped their happy flight
ref: 1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
glosses: To help someone, to give them fortune; to aid or favour.
examples: text: The Ferrari was speeding along the road.
text: I have speeded hither with the very extremest inch of possibility.
ref: c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:
text: With a little manœuvring they contrived to meet on the doorstep which was […] in a boiling stream of passers-by, hurrying business people speeding past in a flurry of fumes and dust in the bright haze.
ref: 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 10, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
glosses: To go fast.
examples: text: Why do you speed when the road is so icy?
text: It had these very funny, crazy plays in it, and then it had this one story about a traffic cop that falls in love with this very cute girl that’s always speeding.
ref: 1951 July 16, J[erome] D[avid] Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →OCLC, page 25:
glosses: To exceed the speed limit.
examples: text: It is possible that the uterine contractions speed the sperm along.
ref: 1982, Carole Offir, Carole Wade, Human sexuality,, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, page 454:
text: Such interventions can help to speed the process of reducing CBRs and help countries pass through the demographic transition threshold more quickly[…].
ref: 2004, James M. Cypher, James L. Dietz, The process of economic development, Routledge, page 359:
glosses: To increase the rate at which something occurs.
examples: text: Jackie is just speeding away / Thought she was James Dean for a day
ref: 1972, Lou Reed, “Walk on the Wild Side”, in Transformer:
text: If Hector had not been speeding, it was possible that his next thought would have hurt: he loves his uncle unconditionally, in a way he will never love me.
ref: 2008, Christos Tsiolkas, The Slap, Allen and Unwin, page 46:
glosses: To be under the influence of stimulant drugs, especially amphetamines.
glosses: To be expedient.
examples: text: infected with the fashions, full of wingdalls, sped with spavins, rayed with yellows
ref: c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:
text: A dire dilemma! either vvay I'm ſped, / If Foes, they vvrite, if Friends, they read me dead.
ref: 1735 January 13 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1734), [Alexander] Pope, An Epistle from Mr. Pope, to Dr. Arbuthnot, London: […] J[ohn] Wright for Lawton Gilliver […], →OCLC, page 2, lines 31–32:
glosses: To hurry to destruction; to put an end to; to ruin.
examples: text: Welcome the coming, speed the parting guest.
ref: 1726, Homer, “Book XV”, in [Alexander Pope], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume IV, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC:
glosses: To wish success or good fortune to, in any undertaking, especially in setting out upon a journey.
examples: text: He sped him thence, home to his habitation.
ref: 1600, [Torquato Tasso], “(please specify |book=1 to 20)”, in Edward Fairefax [i.e., Edward Fairfax], transl., Godfrey of Bulloigne, or The Recouerie of Ierusalem. […], London: […] Ar[nold] Hatfield, for I[saac] Iaggard and M[atthew] Lownes, →OCLC:
glosses: To cause to make haste; to dispatch with celerity; to drive at full speed; hence, to hasten; to hurry.
examples: text: Judicial acts[…]are sped in open court at the instance of one or both of the parties.
ref: 1726, John Ayliffe, Parergon Juris Canonici Anglicani: Or, A Commentary, by Way of Supplement to the Canons and Constitutions of the Church of England. […], London: […] D. Leach, and sold by John Walthoe […], →OCLC:
glosses: To hasten to a conclusion; to expedite.
Derived terms: speed up
Godspeed