n. 1. Hold; grasp [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Custody; power of confining or keeping. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A contract; specifically, an espousal. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Fast by contract; betrothed by joining hands. [ Obs. ] Bale. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. handfasted; p. pr. & vb. n. handfasting. ] 1. To pledge; to bind. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To betroth by joining hands, in order to permit cohabitation, before the formal celebration of marriage; in some parts of Scotland it was in effect to marry provisionally, permitting cohabitation for a year, after which the marriage could be formalized or dissolved. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

☞ Handfasting was a simple contract of agreement under which cohabitation was permitted for a year, at the end of which time the contract could be either dissolved or made permanent by a formal marriage. Such marriages, at first probably not intended to be temporary, are supposed to have originated in Scotland from a scarcity of clergy, and to have existed at times in other countries. [ Century Dict. 1906. ]

a. [ G. handfest; hand hand + fest strong. See Fast. ] Strong; steadfast.[ R. ] Carlyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a handfast or publicly pledged manner. [ Obs. ] Holinshed. [ 1913 Webster ]