Make haste

Meaning

Act quickly.

Origin

This is an old phrase and is first found in the works of Martin Luther. Miles Coverdale's translation of A very excellent and swete exposition upon the two and twentye Psalme of David (1537) includes the line:

"Make haist (o Lorde) to helpe me."

Shakespeare later used it in King John, 1595 (and in several other plays):

KING JOHN:
Nay, but make haste; the better foot before.
O, let me have no subject enemies,
When adverse foreigners affright my towns
With dreadful pomp of stout invasion!
Be Mercury, set feathers to thy heels,
And fly like thought from them to me again.

See other phrases and sayings from Shakespeare.