quicken

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkwɪk(ə)n/

• Audio (Southern England):

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• Rhymes: -ɪkən
• Hyphenation: quick‧en

From Middle English quikenen (“to become alive again after dying; to raise (someone) from the dead; to regain consciousness or strength; to give vitality, revive; to regain validity; to nourish; to spare (the life of someone or something); to ignite; to illuminate; of events: to happen more quickly; of clouds: to form”) ,^[1] from quiken (“to come to life; to become alive again after dying; to give or regain vitality, revive; of a seed: to germinate, grow; to arouse (anger); to inspire; to reinforce, strengthen; to make (a substance) alchemically active; to nourish, sustain; to sharpen; to ignite; to illuminate; of news: to spread”)^[2] + -en (suffix forming the infinitive forms of verbs).^[3] Quiken is derived from Old English cwician (“to bring to life, vivify; to come to life, become living; to quicken”), from cwic (“alive, live, living; mentally agile; intelligent, keen”) (ultimately from Proto-Germanic *kwikwaz (“alive; lively; quick”) and Proto-Indo-European *gʷeyh₃- (“to live”)) + -ian (suffix forming verbs from adjectives and nouns). The English word may be analysed as quick (“moving with swiftness; occurring in a short time; (archaic) alive, living; (archaic) pregnant”) +‎ -en (suffix attached to some adjectives forming transitive verbs meaning ‘to make ’).^[4]

quicken (third-person singular simple present quickens, present participle quickening, simple past and past participle quickened)

1. Senses relating to life or states of activity.
   1. (transitive)
      1. To put (someone or something) in a state of activity or vigour comparable to life; to excite, to rouse.

         Synonyms: motivate, stir up; see also Thesaurus:enliven, Thesaurus:thrill

         • 1908, E M Forster, “Cecil as a Humourist”, in A Room with a View, London: Edward Arnold, →OCLC, part II, page 170:

           […] Italy had quickened Cecil, not to tolerance, but to irritation. He saw that the local society was narrow, but, instead of saying, "Does this very much matter?" he rebelled, and tried to substitute for it the society he called broad.

      2. To inspire or stimulate (an action, a feeling, etc.).

         Synonyms: instigate, spark off; see also Thesaurus:incite

         • 1667; first published 1692, Robert South, “A Sermon Preached at the Consecration of a Chapel”, in Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions. , volume I, London: J H for Thomas Bennet, , →OCLC, pages 289–290:

           For ſurely, a rich Land, guardleſs and undefended, muſt needs have been a double Incitement, and ſuch an one, as might not only admit, but even invite the Enemy. It was like a fruitful Garden, or a fair Vineyard without an Hedge, that quickens the Appetite to enjoy ſo tempting, and withal ſo eaſy a Prize.

         • 1723, [Daniel Defoe], The History and Remarkable Life of the Truly Honourable Col. Jacque, Commonly Call’d Col. Jack, , 2nd edition, London: J Brotherton, , →OCLC, page 106:

           This quicken'd my Reſolution to reſtore her Money, and not only ſo, but I reſolv'd I would give her ſomething over and above her Loſs; […]

         • 1782, William Cowper, “Charity”, in Poems, London: J Johnson, , →OCLC, page 206:

           Strange! how the frequent interjected daſh,
           Quickens a market and helps off the traſh,
           Th' important letters that include the reſt,
           Serve as a key to thoſe that are ſuppreſs'd,
           Conjecture gripes the victims in his paw,
           The world is charm'd, and Scrib. eſcapes the law.

           The author alludes to how the use of dashes to conceal the names of real persons in a satire (for example, “W⸻m C⸻r”) encourages the sale of the work, while allowing the satirist to avoid being sued for libel.

      3. To stimulate or assist the fermentation of (an alcoholic beverage, dough, etc.).
      4. (literary, also figuratively) To give life to (someone or something never alive or once dead); to animate, to resurrect, to revive.

         Synonyms: enliven, vitalise, vivify

         • 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt  (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, The Gospell off S. Luke xvij:, folio cv, verso:

           Whoſoever will goo about to ſave his lyfe⸝ shall looſe it: And whoſoever ſhall looſe his life⸝ ſhall quycken it.

         • c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 235, column 2:

           I haue ſeen a medicine
           That's able to breath life into a ſtone,
           Quicken a rocke, […]

         • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 10, column 2:

           the Miſtris which I ſerue, quickens what's dead,
           And makes my labours, pleaſures: […]

         • 1686, John Bunyan, “ Meditations upon an Egg”, in Henry Stebbing, editor, The Entire Works of John Bunyan, , volume IV, London: James S Virtue, , published 1863, →OCLC, page 447, column 1:

           The egg, when laid, by warmth is made a chicken,
           And Christ by grace the dead in sin does quicken.

           The spelling has been modernized.

         • a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Autumn”, in The Seasons, London: A Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, , published 1768, →OCLC, page 138, lines 662–663:

           still the freſh Spring finds
           New plants to quicken, and new groves to green.

         • 1819, Percy B Shelley, The Cenci: A Tragedy, , , Italy: for C and J Ollier , →OCLC, Act IV, scene i, page 64:

           upon Earth
           All good shall droop and sicken, and ill things
           Shall with a spirit of unnatural life
           Stir and be quickened … even as I am now.

      5. (archaic) To make or help (something) to burn.

         Synonyms: see Thesaurus:kindle

         • 1870, William Morris, “December: The Fostering of Aslaug”, in The Earthly Paradise: A Poem, part IV, London: F S Ellis, , →OCLC, page 75:

           […] she
           Quickened the fire and laid the board, […]

         • 1887, Robert Browning, “With Charles Avison”, in Parleyings with Certain People of Importance in Their Day: , London: Smith, Elder, & Co., , →OCLC, page 210:

           Was it alight once? Still lives spark enough
           For breath to quicken, run the smouldering ash
           Red right through.

      6. (obsolete)
         1. To make (a drug, liquor, etc.) more effective or stimulating.
            • 1591, Ed Sp, “Muiopotmos, or The Fate of the Butterflie”, in Complaints. Containing Sundrie Small Poemes of the Worlds Vanitie. , London: William Ponsonbie, , →OCLC:

              Coole Violets, and Orpine growing ſtill,
              Embathed Balme, and chearfull Galingale,
              Freſh Coſtmarie, and breathfull Camomill,
              Poppie, and drink-quickning Setuale, […]

            • 1631, Francis , “IV. Century. [Experiments in Consort Touching Maturation, and the Accelerating thereof. And First Touching the Maturation and Quickning of Drinks. And Next Touching the Maturation of Fruits..]”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. , 3rd edition, London: William Rawley ; rinted by J H for William Lee , →OCLC, paragraph 314, page 82:

              It were good alſo to Enforce the Spirits by ſome Mixtures, that may excite and quicken them.

         2. (passive voice) Of a pregnant woman: to be in the state of reaching the stage of pregnancy at which the movements of the foetus are first felt.
            • 1599, Nashe, Nashes Lenten Stuffe, , London: [Thomas Judson and Valentine Simmes] for N L and C B , →OCLC, page 46:

              Venus, for Hero was her prieſt, and Iuno Lucina the midwifes goddeſſe, for ſhe was now quickned, and caſt away by the cruelty of Æolus, tooke bread and ſalt and eate it, that they would bee ſmartlie reuenged on that truculent windy iailour, and they forgot it not, for Venus made his ſonne and his daughter to committe inceſt together.

   2. (intransitive)
      1. To take on a state of activity or vigour comparable to life; to be excited or roused.
         • 1870, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, “ The House of Life. Sonnet I. Bridal Birth.”, in Poems, London: F S Ellis, , →OCLC, stanza 1, page 189:

           Born with her life, creature of poignant thirst
           And exquisite hunger, at her heart Love lay
           Quickening in darkness, till a voice that day
           Cried on him, and the bonds of birth were burst.

         • 1910, Saki [pseudonym; Hector Hugh Munro], “The Lost Sanjak”, in Reginald in Russia and Other Sketches, London: Methuen & Co. , →OCLC, page 15:

           The Chaplain's interest in the story visibly quickened.

         • 1938 May, Evelyn Waugh, chapter 4, in Scoop: A Novel about Journalists, uniform edition, London: Chapman & Hall, published 1948 (1951 printing), →OCLC, book II (Stones £20), page 164:

           The milch-goat looked up from her supper of waste paper; her perennial optimism quickened within her, and swelled to a great and mature confidence; […]

      2. To grow bright; to brighten.
         • 1714, Alexander Pope, “The Rape of the Lock”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume I, London: W Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, , published 1717, →OCLC, canto I, page 128:

           The fair each moment riſes in her charms,
           Repairs her ſmiles, awakens ev'ry grace,
           And calls forth all the wonders of her face;
           Sees by degrees a purer bluſh ariſe,
           And keener lightnings quicken in her eyes.

         • 1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Enid”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., , →OCLC, page 29:

           She found no rest, and ever fail'd to draw
           The quiet night into her blood, but lay
           Contemplating her own unworthiness;
           And when the pale and bloodless east began
           To quicken to the sun, arose, […]

         • 1885, Bret Harte, chapter I, in Maruja, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company , →OCLC, page 6:

           Meanwhile the light quickened, and gradually disclosed the form and outline of the adjacent domain.

      3. Of an alcoholic beverage, dough, etc.: to ferment.
      4. (also figuratively) Of a pregnant woman: to first feel the movements of the foetus, or reach the stage of pregnancy at which this takes place; of a foetus: to begin to move.
         • 1663 January 11 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Samuel Pepys, Mynors Bright, transcriber, “January 1st, 1662–1663”, in Henry B Wheatley, editor, The Diary of Samuel Pepys , volume III, London: George Bell & Sons ; Cambridge: Deighton Bell & Co., published 1893, →OCLC, page 1:

           […] about a month ago she [Lady Castlemaine] quickened at my Lord Gerard's at dinner, and cried out that she was undone; and all the lords and men were fain to quit the room, and women called to help her.

         • 1695, Richard Blackmore, “Book II”, in Prince Arthur. An Heroick Poem. , 2nd edition, London: Awnsham and John Churchil , →OCLC, pages 35–36:

           Almighty Vigour ſtrove though all the Void,
           And ſuch prolifick Influence employ'd,
           That ancient, barren Night did pregnant grow,
           And quicken'd with the World in Embrio.

         • 2013 February 21, Hilary Mantel, “Royal Bodies”, in Mary-Kay Wilmers, editor, London Review of Books‎, volume 35, number 4, London: LRB Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 27 December 2021:

           Royal pregnancies were not announced in those days; the news generally crept out, and public anticipation was aroused only when the child quickened.

      5. (literary, also figuratively)
         1. To give life; to make alive.
         2. To come back to life, to receive life.
            • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragœdy of Othello, the Moore of Venice.  (First Quarto), London: N O for Thomas Walkley, , published 1622, →OCLC, , page 71:

              O I, as ſummers flies, are in the ſhambles,
              That quicken euen with blovving: […]

            • 1712 May, Pope, transl., “The First Book of Statius his Thebais”, in Miscellaneous Poems and Translations. , London: Bernard Lintott , →OCLC, page 40:

              Goddeſs of Shades, beneath whoſe gloomy Reign
              Yon ſpangled Arch glows with the ſtarry Train,
              Who doſt the Cares of Heav'n and Earth allay,
              Till Nature quicken'd by th'Inſpiring Ray,
              Wakes to new Vigor with the riſing Day.

            • 1729 April, Gay, Polly: An Opera. Being the Second Part of The Beggar’s Opera, London: T. Thomson , , →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 4:

              But in every Vein
              Life quickens again
              On the Boſom of May.

            • 1842, Alfred Tennyson, “The Vision of Sin”, in Poems. , volume II, London: Edward Moxon, , →OCLC, page 225:

              Below were men and horses pierced with worms,
              And slowly quickening into lower forms;
              By shards and scurf of salt, and scum of dross,
              Old plash of rains, and refuse patch'd with moss.

      6. (rare) To inspire or stimulate.
2. Senses relating to speed.
   1. (transitive)
      2. To make (something) quicker or faster; to hasten, speed up.

         Synonyms: accelerate; see also Thesaurus:speed up

         • 1631, Francis , “X. Century. [Experiments in Consort, Touching the Secret Vertue of Sympathy, and Antipathy.]”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. , 3rd edition, London: William Rawley ; rinted by J H for William Lee , →OCLC, paragraph 990, page 255:

           For you may ſooner by Imagination, quicken or ſlacke a Motion, than raiſe or ceaſe it; As it is eaſier to make a Dog goe ſlower, than to make him ſtand ſtill that he may not runne.

         • 1776 March 9, Adam Smith, “Of the Division of Labour”, in An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. , volume I, London: W Strahan; and T Cadell, , →OCLC, book I (Of the Causes of Improvement in the Productive Powers of Labour, ), page 12:

           Whoever has been much accuſtomed to viſit ſuch manufactures, muſt frequently have been ſhown very pretty machines, which were the inventions of common workmen in order to facilitate and quicken their own particular part of the work.

         • 1907 August, Robert W Chambers, “Afterglow”, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC, page 168:

           Breezes blowing from beds of iris quickened her breath with their perfume; she saw the tufted lilacs sway in the wind, and the streamers of mauve-tinted wistaria swinging, all a-glisten with golden bees; she saw a crimson cardinal winging through the foliage, and amorous tanagers flashing like scarlet flames athwart the pines.

         • 2000 August 8, George R R Martin, “Arya”, in A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire; 3), 1st US edition, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Spectra, published November 2000, →ISBN, page 38:

           That day Arya [Stark] quickened their pace, keeping the horses to a trot as long as she dared, and sometimes spurring to a gallop when she spied a flat stretch of field before them.

      3. (construction, nautical (shipbuilding), archaic) To shorten the radius of (a curve); to make (a curve) sharper, or (an incline) steeper.

         to quicken the sheer, that is, to make its curve more pronounced

   2. (intransitive) To become quicker or faster.

      My heartbeat quickened when I heard him approach.

      • 1891, Thomas Hardy, chapter XXX, in Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented , volume II, London: James R Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., , →OCLC, phase the fourth (The Consequence), page 118:

        Tess's breath quickened.

      • 1936 June 30, Margaret Mitchell, chapter XIX, in Gone with the Wind, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, 1944, →OCLC, part IV, page 339:

        His lips traveled to her wrist and she knew he must fell the leap of her pulse as her heart quickened and she tried to draw back her hand. She had not bargained on this—this treacherous warm tide of feeling that made her want to run her hands through his hair, to feel his lips upon her mouth.

      • 1960 March, G. Freeman Allen, “Europe’s Most Luxurious Express – the ‘Settebello’”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 144:

        On straights speed would quicken to what was apparently the maximum allowed on this stretch, 140 k.p.h., or 87.5 m.p.h., and then one would see the track disappearing ahead round a sharpish curve, for there are some of 35 and 40 chains' radius on this side of the summit as well.

• quicken up
• quickened (adjective)
• quickener
• quickening (adjective, noun)

From quick(silver) (“mercury”) +‎ -en ((obsolete) suffix forming the infinitive forms of verbs).^[5]

quicken (third-person singular simple present quickens, present participle quickening, simple past and past participle quickened)

1. (transitive, rare) To apply quicksilver (mercury) to (something); to combine (something) with quicksilver; to quicksilver.

From Middle English quiken (“(chiefly in place names) probably the European rowan or mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia), and possibly also the aspen (Populus tremula), juniper (genus Juniperus, specifically the common juniper (Juniperus communis)), or service tree (Sorbus domestica)”), possibly from Old English cwician (“to bring to life, vivify; to come to life, become living; to quicken”) (see etymology 1).^[6][7]

quicken (plural quickens)

1. (chiefly Ireland, Northern England) In full quicken tree: the European rowan, rowan, or mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia).

   Synonyms: quickbeam, quick tree

   • 1924 April, Ford Madox Ford, chapter V, in Some Do Not …  (Parade’s End; 1), 2nd edition, London: Duckworth and Company , published June 1924, →OCLC, part 1, page 132:

     […] Miss Wannop moved off down the path: it was only suited for Indian file, and had on the left hand a ten-foot, untrimmed quicken hedge, the hawthorn blossoms just beginning to blacken at the edges and small green haws to show.

From Middle English quiken (“couch grass (Elymus repens); a leguminous plant, vetch”) ,^[8] a variant of quich, quik (“couch grass (Elymus repens); a leguminous plant, vetch”)  (whence modern English quick, quitch (“couch grass, quitchgrass”); the -en element remains unexplained),^[9] from Old English cwiċe (“couch grass”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *kwikwaz (“alive; lively; quick”); see further at etymology 1.^[10]

quicken (countable and uncountable, plural quickens)

1. (chiefly Midlands (northern), Northern England, Northern Ireland, Scotland) Synonym of couch grass (“a species of grass, Elymus repens”); also (chiefly in the plural), the underground rhizomes of this, and sometimes other grasses.

   Synonyms: dog grass, quackgrass, quickens, quick grass, quitch, quitch grass, scutch grass, twitch, witchgrass

   • 1816, [Walter Scott], chapter VI, in The Antiquary. , volume III, Edinburgh: James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page 139:

     Quickens-bog may at first seem to derive its name from the plant Quicken, by which, Scotticé, we understand couch-grass, dog-grass, or the Triticum repens of Linnæus, and the common English monosyllable Bog, by which we mean, in popular language, a marsh or morass; in Latin, Palus.

• quickens (plural noun)

• couch grass on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
  • Elymus repens on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
  • Elymus repens on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Sorbus aucuparia on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
  • Sorbus aucuparia on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
  • Sorbus aucuparia on Wikispecies.Wikispecies

• Audio:

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quicken

1. inflection of quick:
   1. strong genitive masculine/neuter singular
   2. weak/mixed genitive/dative all-gender singular
   3. strong/weak/mixed accusative masculine singular
   4. strong dative plural
   5. weak/mixed all-case plural

From quic +‎ -en.

quicken

1. to come to life

• Middle Dutch: quicken

• “kwikken”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012