Quick, v. t. & i. [See Quicken.] To revive; to quicken; to be or become
alive. [Obs.] Chaucer.
Quick"beam` (?), n. [A. S. cwicbe·m.] See Quicken tree.
Quick"en (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. quickened (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
Quickening.] [AS. cwician. See Quick, a.] 1. To make alive; to vivify;
to revive or resuscitate, as from death or an inanimate state; hence,
to excite; to, stimulate; to incite.
The mistress which I serve quickens what's dead.
Shak.
Like a fruitful garden without an hedge, that quickens the appetite
to enjoy so tempting a prize.
South.
2. To make lively, active, or sprightly; to impart additional energy
to; to stimulate; to make quick or rapid; to hasten; to accelerate; as,
to quicken one's steps or thoughts; to quicken one's departure or
speed.
3. (Shipbuilding) To shorten the radius of (a curve); to make (a curve)
sharper; as, to quicken the sheer, that is, to make its curve more
pronounced.
Syn. -- To revive; resuscitate; animate; reinvigorate; vivify; refresh;
stimulate; sharpen; incite; hasten; accelerate; expedite; dispatch;
speed.
Quick"en, v. i. 1. To come to life; to become alive; to become vivified
or enlivened; hence, to exhibit signs of life; to move, as the fetus in
the womb.
The heart is the first part that quickens, and the last that dies.
Ray.
And keener lightnings quicken in her eye.
Pope.
When the pale and bloodless east began To quicken to the sun.
Tennyson.
2. To move with rapidity or activity; to become accelerated; as, his
pulse quickened.
Quick"en*er, n. One who, or that which, quickens.
Quick"en*ing, n. 1. The act or process of making or of becoming quick.
2. (Physiol.) The first motion of the fetus in the womb felt by the
mother, occurring usually about the middle of the term of pregnancy. It
has been popularly supposed to be due to the fetus becoming possessed
of independent life.
Quick"ens (?), n. (Bot.) Quitch grass.
Quick"en tree` (?). [Probably from quick, and first applied to the
aspen or some tree with quivering leaves; cf. G. quickenbaum,
quizenbaum, quitschenbaum. Cf. Quitch grass.] (Bot.) The European rowan
tree; -- called also quickbeam, and quickenbeam. See Rowan tree.
Quick"hatch` (?), n. [From the American Indian name.] (Zoˆl.) The
wolverine.
Quick"lime (?), n. [See Quick, a.] (Chem.) Calcium oxide; unslacked
lime; -- so called because when wet it develops great heat. See 4th
Lime, 2.
Quick"ly, adv. Speedily; with haste or celerity; soon; without delay;
quick.
Quick"ness, n. 1. The condition or quality of being quick or living;
life. [Obs.]
Touch it with thy celestial quickness.
Herbert.
2. Activity; briskness; especially, rapidity of motion; speed;
celerity; as, quickness of wit.
This deed . . . must send thee hence With fiery quickness.
Shak.
His mind had, indeed, great quickness and vigor.
Macaulay.