Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- interjection Used as a command to stop or desist.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Nautical, stop! hold! cease! stay!
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- interjection (Naut.) Cease; stop; stay.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- interjection nautical  hold fast !;desist !;stay !.
- interjection   listen !;pay attention !.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
 
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Examples
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								Krauthammer lands 'is shots sqare avast' is bow! redneck_hippie 
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								January 19, 2010 at 7: 37 AM avast is ok its always crashes my system when i load the program i have window media center Lifehacker Pack 2009: Essential Free Windows Downloads | Lifehacker Australia 2009 
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								Time was, you'd interview a pirate spokesman and every other word would be "avast" or "arrr." New York Sunset 2008 
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								Souls too timid to say things like "avast" and "arrr" and "shiver me timbers" out loud in public can consider the comments thread a safe place to Post Like A Pirate all day. Panic is passe... 2004 
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								Souls too timid to say things like "avast" and "arrr" and "shiver me timbers" out loud in public can consider the comments thread a safe place to Post Like A Pirate all day. 
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								Souls too timid to say things like "avast" and "arrr" and "shiver me timbers" out loud in public can consider the comments thread a safe place to Post Like A Pirate all day. 
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								Don't think I could keep up the 'avast's and 'me hearties' during all that time, sorry. 
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								Souls too timid to say things like "avast" and "arrr" and "shiver me timbers" out loud in public can consider the comments thread a safe place to Post Like A Pirate all day. Archive 2004-09-01 2004 
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								Souls too timid to say things like "avast" and "arrr" and "shiver me timbers" out loud in public can consider the comments thread a safe place to Post Like A Pirate all day. 
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								But a sharp "avast" stopped them, and four or five cabin-boys gambolled out on it ashore. Gideon's Band A Tale of the Mississippi George Washington Cable 1884 
ecbrenner commented on the word avast
"a nautical command to stop or cease" --Merriam-Webster's Unabridged Dictionary
May 21, 2009 
			
		
	
qroqqa commented on the word avast
What part of speech be avast? Karl 'Peg-leg' Hagen be concludin' 'tis a defective verb.
September 28, 2009 
			
		
	
chained_bear commented on the word avast
It's a verb, I've always heard. Why would one say it's defective?
September 28, 2009 
			
		
	
Jubjub commented on the word avast
5 examples here, but only one uses the word avast. Avast, a bug!
February 1, 2010