speed 
Kni</lit At speed, in her., said of 
a hart, or other animal of the chase, 
when represented as running. Full 
speed, at the highest rate of speed ; 
with the utmost swiftness. 
They said they saw about ten men 
riding swiftly towards us, and as many 
coming full speed down the hill. 
Pococke, Description of the East, II. 
I 1 - 62 - Hart at speed. 
Good speed. See yood.To lave 
the speed Oft, to get in advance of ; pass ahead of ; be 
swifter than. 
Our thane is coming ; 
One of my fellows had the speed of him. 
Shak., Macbeth, i. 5. 36. 
= Syn. 3. Swiftness, Rapidity, etc. (see quickness), expedi- 
tion. 
speed (sped), v. : pret. and pp. sped, speeded, ppr. 
speeding. [< ME. speden (pret. spedde, pp. sped), 
< AS. spedan (pret. spedde), succeed, prosper, 
grow rich, speed, hasten, = D. spoeden, speed, 
hasten, = MLG. spoden, LG. spoden, spoden = 
OHG. spuoton, MHG. 'spuoten, G. sputen, also 
(after LG.) sptiden, speed; from the noun.] I. 
intrans. 1 . To advance toward a goal or a re- 
sult; get on successfully; be fortunate; pros- 
per; get on in general ; make progress ; fare ; 
succeed. 
Thei worschipen also specyally alle tho that the! ban 
gode meetynge of ; and whan thei speden wel in here ior- 
neye, aftre here raeetynge. Mandeville, Travels, p. 166. 
Come you to me at night ; you shall know how I speed. 
Shak., M. W. of W., it. 2. 278. 
Whoso seeks an audit here 
Propitious, pays his tribute, game or flab,, 
Wild fowl or ven'son ; and his errand speeds. 
Cowper, Task, iv. 614. 
What do we wish to know of any worthy person so much 
as how he has sped in the history of this sentiment? 
Emerson, Love. 
2. To get on rapidly; move with celerity ; has- 
ten in going ; go quickly ; hasten in doing some- 
thing; act rapidly; hurry; be quick. 
I have speeded hither with the very extremes! inch of 
possibility. Shak., -2 Hen. IV., iv. 3. 38. 
Then to the Castle's lower ward 
Sped forty yeomen tall. 
Scott, Manuion, i. 4. 
II. trans. 1. To cause to advance toward 
success; favor the course or cause of; make 
prosperous. 
Alle thenne of that auenturre hadde gret ioye, 
& thonked god of his grace that so godli hem spedde. 
William of Palerne (E. E. T. S.), 1. 4922. 
Let the gods so speed me, as I love 
The name of honour more than I fear death. 
Shak., J. C., i. 2. 88. 
2. To push forward; carry toward a conclu- 
sion; promote; advance. 
It shall be speeded well. Shak., M. for M., iv. 5. 10. 
Judicial acts are . . . sped in open court at the instance 
of one or both of the parties. Ayliffe, Parergon. 
3. To send or push forward in a course ; pro- 
mote the going or progress of ; cause to go; aid 
in going. 
True friendship's laws are by this rule exprest* 
Welcome the coming, speed the parting guest 
Pope, Odyssey, xv. 84. 
4. To give high speed to ; put to speed ; hasten 
the going or progress of ; make or cause to be 
rapid in movement ; give celerity to : also used 
reflexively. 
The helpless priest replied no more, 
But sped his steps along the hoarse resounding shore. 
Dryden, Iliad, i. 
He sped him thence home to his habitation. Fairfax. 
precious evenings ! all too swiftly sped ! 
Longfellow, Mrs. Kemble's Readings. 
Perhaps it was a note of Western independence that a 
woman was here and there seen speeding a fast horse, in 
a cutter, alone. Harper's Mag., LXXVI. 876. 
5. To give a certain (specified) speed to; also, 
to regulate the speed of; arrange for a certain 
rate of going; set for a determined rapiditv. 
[Technical.] 
When an engine is speeded to run 300 revolutions per 
minute. The Engineer, LXVIII. 458. 
Circular saws and other high-speeded wood-working 
machines. Jour. Franklin Inst., CXXIX. 261. 
6. To send off or away; put forth; despatch 
on a course : as, an arrow sped from the bow. 
[Archaic.] 
When this speche was sped, speke thai no fferre. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. 8.), 1. 7601. 
Hence 7. To send or put out of the way ; get 
rid of; send off; do for; in a specific use, to send 
out of the world ; put to death; despatch; kill. 
[Archaic.] 
We three are married, but you two are sped. 
Shak., T. of the 8., v. 2. 185. 
5814 
Were he cover'd 
With mountains, and room only for a bullet 
To be sent level at him. I would speed him. 
Fletcher, Double Marriage, v. 3. 
A dire dilemma ! either way I'm sped; 
If foes, they write, if friends, they read me dead. 
Pope, Prol. to Satires, 1. 31. 
8. To cause to be relieved: only in the pas- 
sive. [Archaic.] 
We believe we deserve to be sped of all that our blind 
hearts desire. 
Tyndale, Ans. to Sir T. More, etc. (Parker Soc., 1850), p. 11. 
Being sped of ray grumbling thus, and eased into better 
temper. K. D. Blackmore, Lorna Doone, Ix. 
9f. To disclose; unfold; explain. 
Ne hath it nat ben determyned ne isped fermly and dili- 
gently of any of yow. Chaucer, Boethius, v. prose 4. 
[The word in this quotation is a forced translation of the 
Latin expedite.] God speed you, may God give you ad- 
vancement or success ; I wish you good progress or pros- 
perity. See God-speed. 
speed-cone (sped'kon), n. A contrivance for 
varying and adjusting the velocity-ratio com- 
municated between a pair of parallel shafts by 
means of a belt. It may be either one of a pair of 
continuous cones or conoids whose velocity-ratio can be 
varied gradually while they are in motion by shifting the 
bel^ or a set of pulleys whose radii vary by steps ; in the 
latter case the velocity-ratio can be changed by shifting 
the belt from one pah- of pulleys to another. Rankine, 
Applied Mechanics, p. 467. 
speeder (spe'der), . [< ME. speder, spedar; 
<. speed + -er 1 .] 1. One who makes speed; 
one who advances rapidly, or who gains success. 
[Obsolete or archaic.] 
Supposing you to be the Lady, and three such Gentle- 
men to come vnto you a wo[o)ing : in faith, who should 
be the speeder? Lyly, Euphues and his England, p. 294. 
These are the affections that befit them that are like to 
be speeders. The sluggard lusteth, and wanteth. 
Rev. S. Ward, Sermons, p. 7. 
2. One who or that which moves with great 
swiftness, as a horse. [Colloq.] 3. One who 
or something which promotes speed; specifi- 
cally, some mechanical contrivance for quick- 
ening speed of motion or operation; any speed- 
ing device in a machine, as a pair of speed- 
cones or cone-pulleys. See speed-multiplier. 
To spill [mini vs thu was oure spedar, 
For thow was oure lyghte and oure ledar. 
York Plays, p. 5. 
4. In cotton-manuf., a machine which takes the 
place of the bobbin and fly-frame, receiving 
the slivers from the carders, and twisting them 
into rovings. 
speedful (sped'ful), a. [< ME. speedful, spede- 
ful, spedful; < speed + -//.] If. Successful; 
prosperous. 
Othere tydings speedful for to seyn. 
Chaucer, Man of Law's Tale, 1. 629. 
2f. Effectual; efficient. 
He moot shewe that the collacions of propositions nis 
nat spedful to a necessarye conclusion. 
Chaucer, Boethius, iv. prose 4. 
And this thing he sayth shall be more speedful and 
effectual in the matter. Sir T. More. 
3. Pull of speed; hasty; speedy. [Rare.] 
In pouernesse of spyrit is spedfullest hele. 
Piers Plowman's Crede, 1. 264. 
speedfully (sped'ful-i), adv. [< ME. spedfuttye; 
< speedful + -Iy 2 .~\ In a speedful manner; speed- 
ily; quickly; successfully. 
Then thay toke ther way wonder spedfuUye. 
Rom. ofPartenay (E. E. T. S.), 1. 183. 
speed-gage (sped'gaj), w. A device for indi- 
cating a rate of speed attained ; a velocimeter ; 
a speed-indicator. 
.speedily (spe'di-li), adv. [< ME. spedily, < AS. 
*spedigliec (Lye), prosperously; as speedy + 
-ty 2 .] In a speedy manner; quickly; with 
haste ; in a short time. 
Speed-indicator (sped'm'di-ka-tor), . An in- 
strument for indicating the speed of an en- 
gine, a machine, shafting, etc. ; a speed-gage or 
velocimeter. Various forms are in use. See 
tachometer and operameter. 
speediness (spe'di-nes), n. The quality of be- 
ing speedy; quickness; celerity; haste; de- 
spatch. 
speeding (spe'ding), . [Verbal n. of speed, iv] 
The act of putting to speed; a test of speed, 
as of a horse. 
speedless (sped'les), a. [< speed + -less.'] Hav- 
ing no speed ; slow ; sluggish ; not prosperous ; 
unfortunate; unsuccessful. [Rare.] 
It obeys thy pow'rs, 
And in their ship return the speedless wooers. 
Chapman, Odyssey, v. 40. 
speed-multiplier (sp_ed'inul'ti-pli-er), . An 
arrangement of gearing in which pinions are 
speer 
driven by large wheels, and convey the motion 
by their shafts to still larger wheels. 
speed-pulley (sped'pul"i), . A pulley having 
several luces of different diameters, so that 
it gives different speeds according 
to the face over which the belt 
is passed; a cone-pulley Conical 
speed-pulley, (a) A pulley of a conical 
form, connected by a band or belt with an- 
other of similar form, so that any change of 
position of the belt longitudinally on the 
pulleys varies the speed. (6) The cone- 
pulley of a machine-tool. See cone-pulley, 
speed-recorder ( sped're - kdrMer), 
n. An apparatus for making a 
graphic record of the speed of a 
railroad-train or road-vehicle, or of 
the revolutions of a machine or 
motor. 
speed-riggers (sped'rig'erz), n. pi. Cone-pul- 
leys graduated to move a belt at higher or 
lower speed. [Eng.] 
speed-sight (sped'sit), . One of a pair of sights 
on a cannon for adjusting aim at a moving ship. 
The fore sight is permanently fixed, and the hind sight is 
adjustable by a scale according to the ship's estimated 
rate of sailing. 
speedwell (sped'wel), . [< speed + weM 2 .] 
A plant of the genus reronica, especially V. 
Cham&drys, an herb with creeping and ascend- 
ing stems, and racemes of bright-blue flowers, 
whence it has received in Great Britain such 
fanciful names as angers-eyes, bird's-eye, god's- 
eye, and eyebright. Also called germander-speed- 
well. The corolla falls quickly when the plant is gathered. 
The common speedwell is V. oficinalis, which has been 
Fkjwering Plant of Speedwell (Veronica offtttnalis). 
a, a dower; , the fruit. 
considered diaphoretic, etc., but is now no longer used 
in medicine. The thyme-leafed speedwell, V. serpyUi- 
folia, is a very common little wayside herb with erect 
stems from a creeping base, and small white or bluish flow- 
ers with deeper stripes. Other species have special names, 
V. Anat/allii being the water-speedwell, V. scutellata the 
marsh-speedwell, V. peregrina the purslane-speedwell or 
neckweed, V. arvcnsis the corn-speedwell, V. ayrestis the 
fleld-speedwell, and V. hederxfolia the ivy-leafed speed- 
well. See Veronica. 
speedy (spe'di), . [< ME. gpetti, < AS. spedig, 
prosperous, rich, powerful (= D. spoedig, 
speedy, = OHG. spuotig, G. sputig, spudig, in- 
dustrious, speedy), < sped, prosperity, success, 
speed: see speed.~\ 1. Successful ; prosperous. 
I will wish her speedy strength, and visit her with my 
prayers. Shak., Cor., i. 3. 87. 
2. Marked by speed of movement ; going rap- 
idly ; quick ; swift ; nimble ; hasty ; rapid : as, 
a speedy flight. 
We men of business must use speedy servants. 
Fletcher (and another 1), Prophetess, iii. 2. 
3. Rapidly coming or brought to pass ; not de- 
ferred or delayed; prompt; ready. 
Whereto with speedy words the Archfiend replied. 
Milton, P. L., i. 156. 
With him [the ambassador] Temple came to a speedy 
agreement. Macaulay, Sir William Temple. 
speedy-cut (spe'di-kut), w. An injury in the 
region of the carpus (or knee) of the horse on 
the inner side, inflicted by the foot of the op- 
posite side during motion. 
speekt, An obsolete form of spike 1 . E.Phillips. 
speel (spel), v. t. andt. [Origin uncertain.] To 
climb ; clamber. [Scotch.] 
speelkent, . See spellken. 
speer 1 (sper), v. t. and i. [Early mod. E. also 
spear; Sc. also speir, spier, and formerly spere, 
spire, etc. ; < ME. speren, spiren, speoren, spuren, 
spyrren, < AS. spyrian, spirian, sperian, track, 
trace, investigate, inquire, discuss, ask (= MLG. 
sporen = D. speuren = OHG. sjmrifn, spurren, 
spuren, MHG. spuren, spilnt,^ G. spuren = Icel. 
spyrja, track, trace, investigate, ask, = Sw. 
