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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
fasten
verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
fasten a button
▪ Small children can't fasten their own buttons.
securely locked/fastened/attached/held etc
▪ All firearms should be kept securely locked in a cabinet.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
around
▪ As quick as a striking adder, the soldier's fingers fastened around her arm.
on
▪ These will be fastened on and above them a platform.
▪ What on earth was she now what trend or fad was she fastening on?
▪ There are sections of Hazlitt's critical work which fasten on more general issues.
▪ The gate was made out of three or four sheets of corrugated iron fastened on to a wooden trellis.
▪ Mr Corcoran had stared stonily at him through the pince-nez fastened on to his thin beak of a nose.
▪ But the danger, in fastening on Ayckbourn's ingenuity, is that we overlook what he is saying.
round
▪ Hands fastened round her neck and threw her sprawling across the floor.
■ NOUN
belt
▪ Slipping the garment over her naked shoulders, she pulled it around herself and fastened the belt.
▪ But despite their different backgrounds, all the men meticulously fasten their seat belts before each journey.
▪ Then, very slowly, Mr Evans fastened his belt round his trousers ... He prayed for Nick that night.
▪ Newman boarded the aircraft for Brussels at London Airport, fastened his seat belt.
▪ Turns out that as a state we smoke less, fasten seat belts more and are actually thinner.
door
▪ My grandmother's tin peacocks were fastened to the door.
▪ Bea heard the cast iron bell fastened to the front door and went to see who it was.
▪ As she fastened the door and her seat belt he sat immobile, then when she was ready he started the engine.
▪ He slid the companionway hatch cover forward and fastened the doors, shutting off the interior of the yacht.
seat
▪ A silver dish like a holy water font was fastened to the seat in front of me.
▪ But despite their different backgrounds, all the men meticulously fasten their seat belts before each journey.
▪ Turns out that as a state we smoke less, fasten seat belts more and are actually thinner.
▪ Newman boarded the aircraft for Brussels at London Airport, fastened his seat belt.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
Fasten your coat - it's cold outside.
▪ Christine fastened the brooch to her dress.
▪ Divers fasten weights around their waists to help them stay under water.
▪ Ella fastened her blouse with shaking fingers.
▪ He fastened the bracelet for her.
▪ Make sure the wires are properly fastened to the unit.
▪ Many children's shoes now fasten with Velcro.
▪ Passengers should keep their seat belts fastened until the warning light is extinguished.
▪ Please fasten your seat belts.
▪ She fastened her broad hat beneath her chin.
▪ Snowflake ornaments and tiny red ribbons were fastened to the Christmas tree.
▪ The chains were fastened with steel locks.
▪ With the strap fastened, you should not be able to get the bike helmet off.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Apart from fastening the cuttings together, the lead strip acts as a weight to hold the bunch down.
▪ But despite their different backgrounds, all the men meticulously fasten their seat belts before each journey.
▪ Forward seat belts each comprised a two-piece lap strap, fastened by a buckle, and an inertial reel diagonal shoulder strap.
▪ Maggie fastened her eyes on him and tried to get control of her temper and her very stupidly lingering disappointment.
▪ The nails used to fasten tiles and slates should be of copper or aluminium composition.
▪ The top pair never fastens, are known as dress buttons.
▪ Turns out that as a state we smoke less, fasten seat belts more and are actually thinner.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Fasten

Fasten \Fas"ten\, v. i. To fix one's self; to take firm hold; to clinch; to cling.

A horse leech will hardly fasten on a fish.
--Sir T. Browne.

Fasten

Fasten \Fas"ten\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Fastened; p. pr. & vb. n. Fastening.] [AS. f[ae]stnian; akin to OHG. festin[=o]n. See Fast, a.]

  1. To fix firmly; to make fast; to secure, as by a knot, lock, bolt, etc.; as, to fasten a chain to the feet; to fasten a door or window.

  2. To cause to hold together or to something else; to attach or unite firmly; to cause to cleave to something, or to cleave together, by any means; as, to fasten boards together with nails or cords; to fasten anything in our thoughts.

    The words Whig and Tory have been pressed to the service of many successions of parties, with very different ideas fastened to them.
    --Swift.

  3. To cause to take close effect; to make to tell; to lay on; as, to fasten a blow. [Obs.]
    --Dryden.

    If I can fasten but one cup upon him.
    --Shak.

    To fasten a charge upon or To fasten a crime upon, to make his guilt certain, or so probable as to be generally believed.

    To fasten one's eyes upon, to look upon steadily without cessation.
    --Acts iii.

  4. Syn: To fix; cement; stick; link; affix; annex.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
fasten

Old English fæstnian "make fast, make firm, fix, secure," also "ratify, betroth, confirm," from Proto-Germanic *fastinon "to make firm or fast" (cognates: Old Frisian festnia "to make firm, bind fast," Old Saxon fastnon, Old High German fastnion, German festnen, Old Norse fastna "to pledge, betroth"), from PIE *fast "solid, firm" (see fast (adj.)). Related: Fastened; fastening.

Wiktionary
fasten

vb. 1 To attach or connect in a secure manner. 2 To cause to take close effect; to make to tell; to land.

WordNet
fasten
  1. v. cause to be firmly attached; "fasten the lock onto the door"; "she fixed her gaze on the man" [syn: fix, secure] [ant: unfasten]

  2. become fixed or fastened; "This dress fastens in the back" [ant: unfasten]

  3. attach to; "They fastened various nicknames to each other"

  4. make tight or tighter; "Tighten the wire" [syn: tighten]

Usage examples of "fasten".

To which of the stages of language does this belong--the agglutinative, in which one root is fastened on to another, and a word is formed in which the constitutive elements are obviously distinct, or the inflexional, where the auxiliary roots get worn down and are only distinguishable by the philologist?

He fastened the embroidered peacock agraffe at her neck and pulled the hood up over her plaited hair.

There existed no ailment that could have fastened the greengrocer to his bed.

Jerry Aland, much more presentable now that he was combed and dressed, kept his eyes fastened on Wolfe.

He fastened the tails of the albacore together, hoisted the burden of more than two hundredweight to one shoulder, and led the way up the steep path.

I fell in her arms, our lips fastened together, and, in a voluptuous, ardent pressure, we enjoyed an amorous exhaustion not sufficient to allay our desires, but delightful enough to deceive them for the moment.

She had not strength to repulse the hand which I pressed amorously upon her heart, and becoming bolder I fastened my burning lips upon her languid mouth.

When the nooses had been fastened to the crosspiece the angareb was pulled away and the victims were left swinging and kicking in the air.

Then he opened his blanket and I perceived that fastened about him by a loop of hide in such a fashion that it could be drawn out in a moment, was the blade of a broad assegai, the shaft of which was shortened to about six inches.

The guilty wretch was fastened to two trees forcibly drawn towards each other, and his limbs were torn asunder by their sudden separation.

Then he fastened a head martingale on, and buckled it to the girths atwixt his fore legs.

Rohain tucked the feather inside a tapestry aulmoniere, fastened with buttons of jet.

Tad and Bap helped him into it, and fastened to his belt the tools he would need and the film packs for the cameras he would be activating.

At last the chevochic was tired out, and taking the horse back to the stable he fastened up his head once more, and to my astonishment it began to devour its provender with the greatest appetite.

Therewere always loose backs to be fastened on securely, notes to be erased from margins, pages to be mended, labels to belettered and affixed.