Emily Dickinson Lexicon

QUICK, a. [Sax. cwic, living, alive; D. kwik; G. quick; Dan. qvik; Sw. qvick. Qu. W. cig, Arm. qicq, flesh. If q is a dialectical prefix, as I suppose, this word coincides with the L. vigeo, vegeo, and vig, veg, radical, coincide with wag. Now the Dutch call a wagtail, kwikstaart.]

1. Primarily, alive; living; opposed to dead or unanimated; as, quick flesh. Lev. xiii. The Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead. 2 Tim. iv. [In this sense, the word is obsolete, except in some compounds or in particular phrases.]
2. Swift; hasty; done with celerity; as quick dispatch.
3. Speedy; done or occurring in a short time; as, a quick return of profits. Oft he to her his charge of quick return / Repeated. Milton.
4. Active; brisk; nimble; prompt; ready. He is remarkably quick in his motions. He is a man of quick parts.
5. Moving with rapidity or celerity; as, quick time in music. Quick with child, pregnant with a living child. Blackstone.

QUICK, adv.

1. Nimbly; with celerity; rapidly; with haste; speedily; without delay; as, run quick; be quick. If we consider how very quick the actions of the mind are performed. Locke.
2. Soon; in a short time; without delay. Go and return quick.

QUICK, n. [Sw. qviga, a heifer; Dan. qvæg, cattle; that is, living.]

1. A living animal. [Obs.] Spenser.
2. The living flesh; sensible parts; as, penetrating to the quick; stung to the quick; cut to the quick. Bacon. Dryden.
3. Living shrubs or trees; as, a ditch or bank set with quick. Mortimer.

QUICK, v.i. [Sax. cwic, alive; cwiccian, to vivify.]

To stir; to move. [Not in use.] Spenser.

QUICK, v.i.

To become alive. [Obs.] Chaucer.

QUICK, v.t. [Sax. cwiccian.]

To revive; to make alive. [Obs.] Chaucer.

QUICK'-BEAM, or QUICK'EN-TREE, n.

A tree, the wild sorb. The Pyrus or Sorbus aucuparia, a species of service tree, sometimes also called roan-tree, and fowl-pear, because the apples are used as a bait for birds.

QUICK-EN, v.i. [quik'n.]

1. To become alive. The heart is the first part that quickens, and the last that dies. Ray.
2. To move with rapidity or activity. And keener lightning quickens in her eye. Pope.

QUICK-EN, v.t. [quik'n; Sax. cwiccian; Dan. qvæger.]

1. Primarily, to make alive; to vivify; to revive or resuscitate, as from death or an inanimate state. Rom. iv. Hence flocks and herds, and men and beasts and fowls, With breath are quicken'd, and attract their souls. Dryden.
2. To make alive in a spiritual sense; to communicate a principle of grace to. You hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins. Eph. ii.
3. To hasten; to accelerate; as, to quicken motion, speed or flight.
4. To sharpen; to given keener perception to; to stimulate; to incite; as, to quicken the appetite or taste; to quicken desires. South. Tatler.
5. To revive; to cheer; to reinvigorate; to refresh by new supplies of comfort or grace. Ps. cxix.

QUICK'EN-ED, pp.

1. Made alive; revived; vivified; reinvigorated.
2. Accelerated; hastened.
3. Stimulated; incited.

QUICK'EN-ER, n.

1. One who revives, vivifies or communicates life.
2. That which reinvigorates.
3. That which accelerates motion or increases activity. More.

QUICK'EN-ING, a.

Giving new life and vigor; animating; as, the quickening influences of the spirit.

QUICK'EN-ING, ppr.

Giving life; accelerating; inciting.

QUICK'-EY-ED, a.

Having acute sight; of keen and ready perception.

QUICK'-GRASS, n. [See QUITCH-GRASS.]

QUICK'LIME, n. [See Lime.]

The protoxyd of calcium. Any carbonate of lime deprived of its carbonic acid, becomes quicklime; as, chalk, limestone, oyster shells, &c. These calcarious stones and shells are reduced to quicklime by being subjected for a considerable time to intense heat, which expels the carbonic acid, the aqueous, and the animal matter.

QUICK'LY, adv.

1. Speedily; with haste or celerity.
2. Soon; without delay.

QUICK'-MATCH, n. [See Match.]

A combustible preparation formed of cotton strands dipped in a boiling composition of white vinegar, saltpeter and mealed gunpowder, used by artillerymen. Encyc.

QUICK'NESS, n.

1. Speed; velocity; celerity; rapidity; as, the quickness of motion.
2. Activity; briskness; promptness; as, the quickness of the imagination or wit. Wotton. Dryden.
3. Acuteness of perception; keen sensibility; as, quickness of sensation. Locke.
4. Sharpness; pungency. Mortimer.

QUICK'SAND, n.

1. Send easily moved or readily yielding to pressure; loose sand abounding with water. Dryden.
2. Unsolid ground. Addison.

QUICK'SCENT-ED, a.

Having an acute perception by the nose; of an acute smell.

QUICK'SET, n.

A living plant set to grow, particularly for a hedge. Evelyn.

QUICK'SET, v.t.

To plant with living shrubs or trees for a hedge or fence; as, to quickset a ditch. Mortimer.

QUICK'SET-ED, pp.

Planted with living shrubs.

QUICK-SI'GHT-ED, a.

Having quick sight or acute discernment; quick to see or discern. Locke. Bentley.