fasten

Everyday

1. To close, join or fix something so it stays shut or in place: fasten a seatbelt, a button, a gate. tree →
2. To attach one thing to another. tree →
3. To fix your eyes or attention on something. tree →

In the lessons

Safety lessons: «Fasten your seatbelt», «fasten your helmet strap». In everyday life: fasten buttons, zips, buckles and shoes. In stories: «Her eyes fastened on the door» (she stared at it).

Examples

• Fasten your seatbelt before we drive off. tree →
• I can't fasten this button. tree →
• Fasten the gate so the dog can't get out. tree →
• He fastened the poster to the wall with tape. tree →
• Make sure your helmet is fastened. tree →
• Her eyes fastened on the cake. tree →
• Can you help me fasten my shoes? tree →
• You can sit on my back, and fasten yourself on with your sash. tree →

Note

The t is silent: FAH-sen (UK) / FASS-en (US). Regular verb. Opposite: unfasten. Noun: fastening or fastener.

In Jewish tradition

To fix or attach firmly. The prophets use it for fixing idols with nails and for setting a trusted man firmly in place like a peg.

Interpretation. The blue thread holds the golden plate on the high priest's mitre. The plate says "Holy to the LORD," and tradition sees the blue as a reminder of heaven and the commandments. Isaiah's "peg in a sure place" is read as a promise of a steady, honored servant.

Examples

• And they tied unto it a thread of blue, to fasten it upon the mitre above; as the LORD commanded Moses. (Torah EXO.39.31, JPS 1917) tree →
• They deck it with silver and with gold, they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. (Prophets JER.10.4, JPS 1917) tree →
• And I will fasten him as a peg in a sure place; and he shall be for a throne of honour to his father's house. (Prophets ISA.22.23, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

The t is silent: FAH-sen (UK) / FASS-en (US). Regular verb. Opposite: unfasten. Noun: fastening or fastener.