fasting

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfæstɪŋ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfɑːstɪŋ/
• Rhymes: -æstɪŋ, -ɑːstɪŋ

fasting

1. present participle and gerund of fast

fasting (countable and uncountable, plural fastings)

1. abstinence or mortification for religious reasons, especially abstinence from food
   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), OCLC 630079698, pages 269–270:

     Long vigils—fastings that wore away the strength of day—prayers that banished sleep from night—hoarded vengeance, that, like a fire, consumed its abode—affections crushed to the very earth—a memory whose love was with the grave,—a faith that had coloured itself with mortal passion,—all these had pressed too heavily on the springs of life and thought;...

   • 1904, H. G. Wells, The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth

     Immediately after that affair Lady Wondershoot, casting about for exemplary additions to the abuse and fastings she had inflicted, issued a Ukase. She issued it first to her butler, and very suddenly, so that she made him jump.

2. abstinence from food, limiting caloric intake, for medical or health reasons, dieting
   • 1967 United States Navy Medical News Letter, vol. 50 no. 10 (17 November 1967), p. 13

     an obese patient while he was undergoing fasting for weight reduction

• fasting spittle