fast lane

English

Noun

fast lane (plural fast lanes)

1. On a multilane road, the lane intended or reserved for vehicles moving at faster speeds.
2. (figuratively, by extension) Any situation or activity where the pace is very rapid.
   • 1981 December 1, Susan Saxe, “Survival with Agony and Art”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 20, page 9:

     One of the four main characters in This Place, tough, streetwise Candy Peters, is a white girl more at home in black culture than anywhere else, a throwaway child, a veteran of the fast lane, drugs, prostitution, jail.

3. (misconception, by extension) the overtaking lane or passing lane.

Antonyms

• slow lane

Derived terms

• in the fast lane

Translations

the lane intended or reserved for vehicles moving at faster speeds

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 快車道 / 快车道 (zh) (kuàichēdào)

• German: Überholspur (de) f
• Spanish: carril de alta velocidad m

See also

• left lane camper
• left lane hog