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What is "fast and loose pulleys"

The Collaborative International Dictionary
Fast and loose pulleys

Fast \Fast\, a. [Compar. Faster; superl. Fastest.] [OE., firm, strong, not loose, AS. f[ae]st; akin to OS. fast, D. vast, OHG. fasti, festi, G. fest, Icel. fastr, Sw. & Dan. fast, and perh. to E. fetter. The sense swift comes from the idea of keeping close to what is pursued; a Scandinavian use. Cf. Fast, adv., Fast, v., Avast.]

  1. Firmly fixed; closely adhering; made firm; not loose, unstable, or easily moved; immovable; as, to make fast the door.

    There is an order that keeps things fast.
    --Burke.

  2. Firm against attack; fortified by nature or art; impregnable; strong.

    Outlaws . . . lurking in woods and fast places.
    --Spenser.

  3. Firm in adherence; steadfast; not easily separated or alienated; faithful; as, a fast friend.

  4. Permanent; not liable to fade by exposure to air or by washing; durable; lasting; as, fast colors.

  5. Tenacious; retentive. [Obs.]

    Roses, damask and red, are fast flowers of their smells.
    --Bacon.

  6. Not easily disturbed or broken; deep; sound.

    All this while in a most fast sleep.
    --Shak.

  7. Moving rapidly; quick in mition; rapid; swift; as, a fast horse.

  8. Given to pleasure seeking; disregardful of restraint; reckless; wild; dissipated; dissolute; as, a fast man; a fast liver.
    --Thackeray.

  9. In such a condition, as to resilience, etc., as to make possible unusual rapidity of play or action; as, a fast racket, or tennis court; a fast track; a fast billiard table, etc.

    Fast and loose, now cohering, now disjoined; inconstant, esp. in the phrases to play at fast and loose, to play fast and loose, to act with giddy or reckless inconstancy or in a tricky manner; to say one thing and do another. ``Play fast and loose with faith.''
    --Shak.

    Fast and loose pulleys (Mach.), two pulleys placed side by side on a revolving shaft, which is driven from another shaft by a band, and arranged to disengage and re["e]ngage the machinery driven thereby. When the machinery is to be stopped, the band is transferred from the pulley fixed to the shaft to the pulley which revolves freely upon it, and vice versa.

    Hard and fast (Naut.), so completely aground as to be immovable.

    To make fast (Naut.), to make secure; to fasten firmly, as a vessel, a rope, or a door.