Fast or slow having nothing to lose (4)
I believe the answer is:
lent
'fast' is the definition.
(Lent is a period of fasting in Christianity)
'slow having nothing to lose' is the wordplay.
'slow' becomes 'len' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'having' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'nothing' becomes 'O' (O resembles 0).
'lose' indicates named letters should be taken away.
'to' with 'o' taken out is 't'.
'len'+'t'='LENT'
'or' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for lent that I've seen before include "Loaned; a fast" , "Forty days of penance" , "Fast time" , "From Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday" , "Christian period of abstinence" .)