Avast

//əˈvɑːst// intj, slang

intj, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Intj
  1. 1
    Hold fast!; cease!; stop!

    "Then pull avvay, hoa up, hoa up, hoa up, ſo avaſt there, Sir."

  2. 2
    In imitation of pirates: listen!; pay attention! slang

    "Avast, ye landlubbers!"

Synonyms

All synonyms
avast [⇒ thesaurus]!avast!beware!blackfriars!cave!cheese it!

Example

More examples

"Then pull avvay, hoa up, hoa up, hoa up, ſo avaſt there, Sir."

Etymology

Probably borrowed from Dutch hou vast, houd vast (“hold fast!”), from houd (imperative of houden, “to hold”) + vast (“fast, firm, tight”, adverb). Doublet of hold fast.

Related phrases

pay attention

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.