avast

[uh-vast, uh-vahst] /əˈvæst, əˈvɑst/

v. imperative, Nautical

(used as a command to stop or cease):

Avast heaving!

Origin

1675-85; perhaps < Dutch houd vast hold fast (see hold¹, fast¹)

Examples from the web for avast

The scope of the journal covers avast range of crops and research disciplines.
Collectively, they possess avast array of knowledge based on experience.
The past fifty years have seen the development of avast free market capital raising mechanism, based upon investor confidence.
Before its enactment, consumers were faced with avast array of credit terms and rates.
But there is avast difference in our functions--our powers, our procedures, our immediate obJectives.
Visible light represents only a tiny portion of avast radiation spectrum.

British Dictionary definitions for avast

avast

/əˈvɑːst/

sentence substitute

(nautical) stop! cease!

Word Origin

C17: perhaps from Dutch hou'vast hold fast

Word Origin and History for avast

1680s, a nautical interjection, "hold! stop!" probably worn down from Dutch houd vast "hold fast."

AVAST. -- The order to stop, or pause, in any exercise or operation; as Avast heaving -- that is to say, desist, or stop, from drawing in the cable or hawser, by means of the capstan &c. [George Biddlecombe, "The Art of Rigging," 1848]