α. Middle English quik, Middle English quikk, Middle English quyke, 1500s queke, 1600s– quick.
β. English regional (chiefly northern) 1700s– whick, 1800s– wick.
See also quack n.4quickn.2
/kwɪk/, U.S. /kwɪk/ 1. Usually in plural. A weed; esp. couch grass, Elymus repens. Cf. quicken n.2, quick grass n. 1. Now English regional (chiefly northern).
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants perceived as weeds or harmful plants > weed > grasses perceived as weeds > [noun] > couch-grass
quitcheOE
quicka1400
quicken?c1425
couch-grass1578
twitch1588
twitch grass1588
dog grass1597
sea dog's grass1597
quick grass1617
couch1637
wheat-grass1668
scutch1686
quickenings1762
quicken grass1771
spear-grass1784
squitch1785
witchgrass1790
felt1794
dog-wheat1796
creeping wheat1819
quack1822
switch-grass1840
couch-wheat1884
the world > plants > particular plants > plants perceived as weeds or harmful plants > weed > grasses perceived as weeds > [noun] > couch-grass > stems of
quicka1400
quicken?c1425
quick grass1617
quickenings1762
quicken grass1771
a1400 J. Mirfield Sinonoma Bartholomei (1882) 23 Gramen..specialiter accipitur in medicina pro quadam herba..anglice quikes.
?c1475 Catholicon Anglicum (BL Add. 15562) f. 101 A quyke [1483 BL Add. 89074 Quikk], hic Aruus [BL Add. 89074 eruus].
1526 Grete Herball cxcvii. sig. Miii/1 Quekes.
1613 G. Markham Eng. Husbandman: 1st Pt. sig. F2 In these light, hot, sandy soiles, there is a continuall spring (though not of good fruits) yet of..quicks, and other inconueniences.
1764 Museum Rusticum (1765) 3 296 A machine, that would clear..land from quicks, or other weeds.
1788 W. Marshall Rural Econ. Yorks. II. 83 An ill-grounded notion prevails that wheat after clover breeds quicks!
1800 J. Tuke Gen. View Agric. N. Riding Yorks. (new ed.) 85 Heavier harrows..are used to clean the land from quicks.
1876 C. C. Robinson Gloss. Words Dial. Mid-Yorks. 156/1 Wick, weed.
1994 A. Kellett Yorks. Dict. 200/1 Wicks, wickens, couchgrass; weeds in general.
1999 R. Malster Mardler's Compan. 61/1 Quicks, Couch grass or twitch.., a pestilential creeping weed..the bane of gardeners.
2. South African. Any of various creeping grasses, esp. of the genera Cynodon and Stenotaphrum. Frequently with distinguishing word. Cf. kweek n., quick grass n. 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > a grass or grasses > [noun] > names applied to various types of grass
windlestrawc1000
shear-grass1483
risp1508
sweet-grass1577
star grass1687
reesk1735
bluegrass1751
cheat1784
spear-grass1784
white top1803
prairie grass1812
elephant grass1832
ryegrass1845
wool-grass1854
snow-grass1865
quick1896
1896 R. Wallace Farming Industry of Cape Coloured 100 The grass which forms the closest covering in the veld..is the small couch grass or quick, of light cultivated soils.
1935 J. W. Mathews in Jrnl. Bot. Soc. 21 11 In the nineties of the last century the local grasses, Coarse Quick and, occasionally Fine Quick were being used.
1969 E. Roux Grass: Story of Frankenwald 161 The wild Cynodon dactylon..is popularly known in South Africa as ‘kweek’ or ‘quick’, while to the Americans it is Bermuda grass.
1988 R. A. Lubke & I. De Moor Field Guide Eastern & Southern Cape Coasts 134 Mats or swards of grasses such as Sporobolus virginicus, brakgras,..or Stenotaphrum secundatum, seaside quick,..are common on raised banks or at the very edges of the reed swamp or salt-marsh.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
quickadj.n.1adv.
/kwɪk/, U.S. /kwɪk/α. Old English cuca, Old English cuce, Old English cucu, Old English cuic, Old English cuk- (inflected form), Old English cwica, Old English cwicc- (inflected form), Old English cwice, Old English cwico, Old English cwicu, Old English cwuca, Old English cwucu, Old English cwyc, Old English cwycu, Old English kuce (plural), Old English–early Middle English cwic, late Old English cweocum (dative plural), late Old English quiche (plural), late Old English–1600s quic, early Middle English cuc- (inflected form), early Middle English cwicc ( Ormulum), early Middle English cwich, early Middle English cwick, early Middle English cwik, early Middle English cwike, early Middle English cwuce, Middle English gwyke (probably transmission error), Middle English kuic (south-eastern), Middle English kuik (south-eastern), Middle English kwyk, Middle English quek, Middle English queke, Middle English quid (transmission error), Middle English quike, Middle English quikk, Middle English quikke, Middle English quiyke, Middle English quyc, Middle English quykke, Middle English qvyk, Middle English qweke, Middle English qwicke, Middle English qwik, Middle English qwike, Middle English qwikk, Middle English qwikke, Middle English qwyck, Middle English qwycke, Middle English qwyke, Middle English qwykke, Middle English–1500s quyck, Middle English–1500s quyk, Middle English–1500s quyke, Middle English–1500s qwyk, Middle English–1500s (1900s– nonstandard) quik, Middle English–1600s quicke, Middle English–1600s quycke, Middle English–1600s qvick, Middle English– quick, 1500s queeke, 1500s–1600s qwick, 1600s queyck, 1900s– kwik (nonstandard), 1900s– queck (English regional (Cornish)); Scottish pre-1700 quic, pre-1700 quicke, pre-1700 quike, pre-1700 quikke, pre-1700 quyc, pre-1700 quyck, pre-1700 quyk, pre-1700 quyke, pre-1700 qvick, pre-1700 qwic, pre-1700 qwick, pre-1700 qwik, pre-1700 qwyk, pre-1700 1700s– quick, pre-1700 1900s– quik, 1900s– kwik (nonstandard and Shetland), 1900s– kwikk (Shetland), 1900s– queek (Orkney).
β. late Middle English qwhick (northern), late Middle English qwhik, late Middle English qwhikke, late Middle English qwhyk, late Middle English qwhyke, late Middle English weke, late Middle English whicke, late Middle English whik, late Middle English whike, late Middle English whikk, late Middle English whyk, late Middle English whyke, late Middle English whykk, late Middle English whykke, late Middle English wyck, late Middle English wyke, late Middle English–1500s whikke, 1500s–1600s whick (northern); English regional (northern and midlands) 1700s whik, 1700s– whick, 1700s– wick, 1800s– hwick; Scottish pre-1700 quhick, pre-1700 quhyk, pre-1700 qwhik, 1900s– hwikk (Shetland), 1900s– whick (Shetland).
γ. late Middle English whyt, 1600s whitt.
A. adj.
I. Characterized by the presence of life.
1.
a. Living, endowed with life, animate. Now only in extended uses (see senses A. 1b, A. 1c).
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > source or principle of life > [adjective] > opposed to inanimate
quickeOE
livelyOE
animatea1398
quick and queathing?a1475
vitala1513
animated1568
animal1599
animant1678
inanimated1689
vivified1767
animastic1794
vitalic1848
eOE tr. Orosius Hist. (BL Add.) (1980) ii. i. 36 Eac þas eorþan, þe ealle cwice wyhta bi libbað, ealle hiere wæstmbæro [God] gelytlade.
lOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Bodl.) xxxix. 126 Men & ealle cwuca wuhta habbað singalne & unnytne andan betwuh him.
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 3691 He..fedeþþ enngle þeod. & alle cwike shaffte.
c1300 St. Brendan (Harl.) 168 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 224 (MED) Þe yle..as a quic þing hupte vp & doun.
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1865) I. 383 Goddes heste..heet þe erþe brynge forþ gras and quyk bestes [?a1475 anon. tr. euery thynge hauenge the spirite of lyfe; L. animam viventem].
a1400 (?c1280) Nativity Mary & Christ (Stowe) (1975) 541 (MED) Þe sterre..wenten [read wente] forþ riht euene þe wey as þei it quik [v.r. alyues] þing were.
a1425 in M. Day Wheatley MS (1921) 69 (MED) On erþe my werkis, boþe quike & greene, I putte hem vndir þi pouste.
a1500 ( J. Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. (Rawl.) (1898) 208 Sowne of thynges that bene not quycke, as the Sowne of water and brekynge of trees, [etc.].
?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. xxxiiiiv The bottes..be quicke and stycke fast in the mawe sydes.
c1550 Complaynt Scotl. (1979) 14 Ther is nocht ane scottis terme has signifeis al quyk sensibil thyng.
1611 J. Speed Hist. Great Brit. ix. xiii. 599/2 They could see no quicke things left but onlie Owles.
1636 A. Montgomerie Cherrie & Slae (new ed.) 851 All quick things have such things, I meane both man and beast.
a1822 P. B. Shelley Witch of Atlas ix, in Posthumous Poems (1824) 32 Where the quick heart of the great world doth pant.
1857 E. Waugh Sketches Lancs. Life (ed. 2) 29 There isn't a wick thing i' this world can wortch as it should do, if it doesn't heyt [= eat] as it should do.
b. Of possessions or property: consisting of live animals; (of animals, esp. cattle) owned as livestock. Cf. quick-aucht n. at Compounds 1b. Now English regional (northern) and rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > domestic animal > [adjective] > of livestock
quickeOE
eOE (Kentish) Will of Ealdorman Ælfred (Sawyer 1508) in F. E. Harmer Sel. Eng. Hist. Docs. 9th & 10th Cent. (1914) 13 Ic..sello Werburge & Alhdryðe..æfter minum dege, þas lond mid cwice ȩrfe & mid earðe & mid allum ðingum ðe to londum belimpað.
eOE Laws of Ælfred (Corpus Cambr. 173) Introd. xxviii. 36 Gif hwa oðfæste his friend fioh, gif he hit self stæle, forgylde be twyfealdum... Gif hit ðonne cucu feoh wære, & he secgge, þæt hit here name oððe hit self acwæle, & gewitnesse hæbbe, ne þearf he þæt geldan.
OE Blickling Homilies 39 He [sc. ure Drihten] bebead þæt we..gedælan for his noman þone teoþan dæl on urum wæstmum, & on cwicum ceape.
c1400 Femina (Trin. Cambr.) (1909) 3 (MED) An ost seyþ a man in batayle Fusoun seyþ man of quyk [Fr. vyf] bestayle.
1424 in F. J. Furnivall Fifty Earliest Eng. Wills (1882) 57 (MED) I wul þat non of my corn nor malt ne quyk catel be taken for houshold.
1433 in F. J. Furnivall Fifty Earliest Eng. Wills (1882) 95 Alle my goodes & catelles, bothe quike & dede.
1470 Indenture in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) I. 419 John Fastolf..beyng..possessed of..other godez and catallez qvyk and dede, caused a feoffement..to be made to the seid reuerend fader.
1485 Will in J. T. Fowler Acts Church SS. Peter & Wilfrid, Ripon (1875) 275 My best quyke goode..in the name of my mortuary.
1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Surueyeng xii. f. 24v He that hath no quicke good, shall gyue his best deed good.
1526 in G. J. Piccope Lancs. & Cheshire Wills (1857) I. 15 I bequeth ffor my mortuarye my best qwyk beast.
1592 W. West Symbolæogr.: 1st Pt. §25 Houses and landes and quicke beastes, as sheepe and oxen.
1649 Bp. J. Hall Resol. & Decisions i. ix. 83 If they be quick commodities, as horses, sheep, kine and the like.
1677 East-Hampton Rec. I. 405 I Thomas Diament sen[io]r doe oblige my selfe..to give & bequeath unto my sonn..a double Share of ye Quick Stock w[hi]ch I shall Leave behind me.
1698 R. P. in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 20 383 Houshold-goods..lost; besides many quick Goods.
1745 W. Stout Autobiogr. (1851) (ad fin.) A public sale of all his quick goods and cattle.
1747 in M. Bodfish Probate Inventories of Smethwick Residents 1647–1747 (1992) 90 Quick cattle Fifteen sheep Two old cows.
1846 Littell's Living Age 7 Nov. 473/2 This comforts me, that the most weatherbeaten vessel cannot properly be seized on for a wreck which hath any quick cattle remaining therein.
1873 Spectator 23 Aug. 1069/1 ‘Quick’ animals, to use a Yorkshire phrase, are sold here.
1876 F. K. Robinson Gloss. Words Whitby Wick goods, all kinds of living things.
c. Applied to things properly inanimate in various extended or figurative uses. Cf. branch A. II. Now rare.
ΚΠ
eOE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Tanner) iv. xx. 314 He..endebyrdnesse & þeaw þæs songes cwicre stæfne þæs..mynstres sangera[s] lærde.
OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: John iv. 10 Dedisset tibi aquam uiuam : gesalde ðe uel æc ualde gesealla ðe uæter cuic uel lifwelle uæter.
a1225 (?OE) MS Vesp. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 241 ‘Ic am cwuce bread þe astah fram hefene,’ seȝð ure helende.
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Royal) 1 Pet. ii. 5 Ȝoure silf as quike stoones [L. lapides vivi] be aboue bildid spiritual housis.
a1450 (?c1400) Three Kings Cologne (Royal) (1886) 27 Oure lord..seiþ, ‘I am þe quyk bread þat com downe fro heuene.’
?1504 W. Atkinson tr. Thomas à Kempis Ful Treat. Imytacyon Cryste (Pynson) iii. x. 205 Of me..pore & ryche, drawe quycke water as of the well of lyfe.
1577 R. Stanyhurst Hist. Irelande iii. 107/2 in R. Holinshed Chron. I To rushe through suche quicke Iron walles [sc. armed Galloglasses].
1733 A. Pope Ess. Man i. 234 See, thro'..this Earth, All Nature quick, and bursting into birth.
1845 S. Judd Margaret ii. i. 186 Her mother ‘stirs it off’, and a due quantity of the ‘quick’, and ‘alive’ crystal sweet is the result.
1894 S. R. Crockett Raiders 13 Young green leaves breaking from the quick and breathing earth.
1916 D. H. Lawrence Amores 83 The quick leaf tore me Back to this rainy swill Of leaves and lamps and traffic.
1987 D. Hall Seasons at Eagle Pond iv. 71 You find underneath it, like the imprint left by a child's cellophane transfer, the leaf's bright image intact and quick on the dirt.
2. † c. In extended and figurative use, of a quality, feeling, etc. Cf. branch A. II. Obsolete (rare after early 18th cent.).
a. Of a person or animal: in a live state, alive. Now chiefly regional and archaic.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > source or principle of life > [adjective] > opposed to dead
in the land of the livingc825
livingeOE
lifeeOE
quickeOE
aliveOE
livishc1175
alivesc1300
in lifea1325
with lifea1325
of life1392
breathinga1398
undeada1400
upon lifea1413
live1531
lifesome1582
undeceased1589
vivec1590
breathful1593
vivificent1598
on the hoof1818
eOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Otho) xxxvi. 109 Ne..ðon ma ðe we m[ag]on hatan oððe habban deadn[e] mon for cwucone.
OE tr. Medicina de Quadrupedibus (Vitell.) x. 264 Wið miltwræce, cwices hundes milte abred of, wyrc to drence on wine.
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 1386 Þatt cwike bucc. Comm inn till wilde wesste.
c1225 (?c1200) St. Katherine (1973) 63 (MED) Þe riche reoðeren & schep..brohten to lake, þe poure cwike briddes.
c1300 St. James Great (Laud) 143 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 38 (MED) We habbeth i-brouȝt..Seint Iemes bodi, his Apostle, of ȝwam þov nome ofte þi red To laten him nime þe ȝwyle he was quik.
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1959) Exod. xxi. 35 Þe qwyck [L. vivum] ox þei schull sellen.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 8645 (MED) Mi quik child has þou stoln to þe And has þi ded barn laid bi me.
c1450 in T. Austin Two 15th-cent. Cookery-bks. (1888) 99 (MED) Take a quyk lamprey And lete him blode at þe nauell.
a1529 J. Skelton Tunnyng of Elynour Rummyng in Certayne Bks. (?1545) 431 A cantell of Essex chese..well a fote thycke, Full of maggottes quycke.
1584 R. Scot Discouerie Witchcraft v. vi. 101 To hold a quick eele by the taile.
1651 N. Biggs Matæotechnia Medicinæ Praxeωs Pref. 7 Where have we constant reading upon either quick or dead Anatomies?
a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) i. 17 Not the Quick but the Dead Worthies properly pertain to my pen.
c1760 W. Hutton Dial. Storth & Arnside (c1900) 4 Was It whick, says Ta?
1802 A. Wheeler Westmorland Dial. (ed. 2) iv. 103 Wor thor giants alive? Mary. Nay, nay,..they er net whick I racken.
1875 W. D. Parish Dict. Sussex Dial. s.v. I thought at first that sheep was dead, but I found it was quick still.
1890 ‘A. Clare’ For Love of Lass I. 147 Answer me if ye're still whick.
1932 T. E. Lawrence tr. Homer Odyssey xi My child, what brings you to visit here, a quick man in this darkness of the shadow?
1964 Listener 27 Aug. 315/2 This man [sc. Apollinaire]..under the banner of Unanimism..had loudly and proudly identified himself with everything quick and living.
1992 R. Kenan Let Dead bury their Dead ii. 25 I say, you there. Feller. Is you quick or dead?
b. As a complement to the subject of intransitive and passive verbs, or to the object (and occasionally the subject) of transitive verbs. In early use frequently preceded by intensive all. Now archaic and literary.
ΚΠ
eOE (Mercian) Vespasian Psalter (1965) cxxiii. 2 (3) Dum insurgerent homines in nos, forsitan uiuos degluttissent nos : ðonne arisað men in usic woeninga cwice forswelgað usic.
OE Blickling Homilies 191 Hie woldan þone casere cwicenne forbærnan.
lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) anno 1009 Þæt he Wulfnoð cuconne oððe deadne begytan sceolde.
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 1364 An bucc rann þær aweȝȝ all cwicc.
c1225 (?c1200) St. Juliana (Bodl.) 649 (MED) [E]leusius bed..keasten hire in to þe brune cwic to for bearnen.
c1300 (?c1225) King Horn (Cambr.) (1901) 86 Payns him wolde slen Oþer al quic flen Ȝef his fairnesse nere.
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 4166 (MED) Some he mid strencþe nom & al quic hom vret.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 1471 (MED) To paradis quik was he tan.
a1425 (?a1350) Gospel of Nicodemus (Galba) (1907) 1082 (MED) Ely þe prophet..quik to heuyn ȝede.
a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) 4070 All quyk I wolde be dolven deepe.
c1429 Mirour Mans Saluacioune (1986) l. 744 Joachym and Anne thaire doghter offred to God perfitly..to serue hym qwhikke swetlye.
1490 W. Caxton tr. Foure Sonnes of Aymon (1885) iii. 96 And soo he was drawnen all quyck, and quartered in foure peces.
c1515 Ld. Berners tr. Bk. Duke Huon of Burdeux (1882–7) xlvii. 159 Ye lechour..shalbe flayne all quycke.
1583 R. Robinson tr. Aunc. Order Prince Arthure sig. K4 Th'earth might rather her deuoure all quick euen as she was.
1632 W. Lithgow Totall Disc. Trav. i. 37 There was a gray Frier burning quicke at S. Markes pillar.
1678 R. L'Estrange tr. Of Happy Life xx. 264 in Seneca's Morals Abstracted (1679) Privacy, without Letters, is but the Burying of a Man Quick.
1708 J. Philips Cyder i. 12 Ingulft By the wide yawning Earth, to Stygian Shades Went quick.
1800 D. Hume Comm. Law Scotl. II. xvii. 363 In cases of heresy and witchcraft, the inevitable doom was, to be burned quick.
1856 E. C. Gaskell Poor Clare iii, in Househ. Words 27 Dec. 561/2 Her former self must be buried,—yea, buried quick, if need be,—but never more to make sign or utter cry on earth!
1873 R. Buchanan White Rose & Red iv. vii. 222 Underneath her death-shroud thick, Like a body buried quick, Heaved the Earth, and thrusting hands Crack'd the ice and brake her bands.
1933 M. Summers Werewolf v. 320 On the 14th December of the same year at Paris, a tailor of Châlons was sentenced to be burned quick for his horrible crimes.
1979 M. Stewart Last Enchantm. V. ii. 357 You were told that you would be buried quick in darkness, your power gone.
ΚΠ
a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 171 Þo unbileffule men þe bi here quica liue here sunnes ne forleten.
?c1450 (?a1400) J. Wyclif Eng. Wks. (1880) 369 (MED) Þai suffre not criste to be alyue in þe sowlis of his peple bi qwike faythe.
a1470 T. Malory Morte Darthur (Winch. Coll.) 946 Humilite and paciense, tho be the thynges which bene allwey grene and quyk.
1547 Certain Serm. or Homilies (1640) i. Faith i. 22 As the other vaine faith is called a dead faith, so may this be called a quicke or lively fayth.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry V (1623) ii. ii. 76 The mercy that was quicke [1600 quit] in vs..is supprest and kill'd. View more context for this quotation
1631 G. Chapman Warres of Pompey & Caesar in Plays (1873) III. 132 Strike dead our feare..Rather then keepe it quick.
1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 231. ¶7 Modesty..is a kind of quick and delicate feeling in the Soul... It is such an exquisite Sensibility, as warns a woman to shun the first appearance of every thing which is hurtful.
1728 A. Pope Dunciad i. 47 Hints, like spawn, scarce quick in embryo lie.
1895 I. Zangwill Master ii. vii. 213 Not only..the glamour of the dead past, but the poetry of the quick.
3. Of the flesh or a part of the body: living; †capable of movement (obsolete); capable of sensation, sensitive to pain. Chiefly in quick flesh. Also in figurative context.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > source or principle of life > [adjective] > opposed to dead > of flesh or parts
quickeOE
the world > life > the body > bodily substance > flesh > [noun]
fleshc1000
lirec1000
quick flesha1382
pulp?a1425
substance?a1425
meat1829
beef1851
eOE Bald's Leechbk. (Royal) (1865) i. xxxv. 82 Gif þæt asweartode lic to þon swiþe adeadige þæt þær nan gefelnes on ne sie þonne scealt þu sona eal þæt deade & þæt ungefelde of asniþan oþ þæt cwice lic þæt þær na miht þæs deadan lices to lafe ne sie.
c1225 (?c1200) Hali Meiðhad (Bodl.) (1940) 167 As..basme [keeps]..þet deade licome..from rotunge, Al swa deð meidenhad meidenes cwike flesch wið ute wemmunge.
c1230 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Corpus Cambr.) (1962) 61 His flesch was cwic ouer alle [a1250 Nero cwickest of alle] flesches.
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1961) Lev. xiii. 10 Whenne..þulke forsoþe quyk flesch apereþ, þe most oolde lepre hit shal be demed.
a1450 St. Edith (Faust.) (1883) 2624 A lyuyng mone Þat hadde be lette blode in a quyke veyne.
1527 L. Andrewe tr. H. Brunschwig Vertuose Boke Distyllacyon sig. Cii The lame lymmes and membres..become quycke agayne.
1528 T. More Dialogue Heresyes iii, in Wks. (1557) 225/2 We fare as doo the rauens and the carein crowes yt neuer medle with any quicke flesh.
1603 J. Florio tr. M. de Montaigne Ess. ii. iii. 210 To cut and slice great mammocks of their quicke flesh.
?1614 W. Drummond Sonnet: Faire is my Yocke in Poems My wasted Heart, Made quicke by Death, more liuely still remaines.
1702 J. Moyle Chirurgus Marinus (ed. 4) 137 You will..see a Chink, or parting between the quick flesh and the dead.
1784 T. Holcroft tr. Foucher d'Obsonville Philos. Ess. Foreign Animals 199 These parts then becoming gangrenous, formed hard and thick scabs, which kernelling and falling away from the quick flesh, left very deep ulcers.
1853 J. Hamilton Life in Earnest 32 Some persons..drag themselves to the inevitable task with remonstrating reluctance,..as if they expected the quick flesh to cleave to the next implement of industry they handle.
1888 Cent. Mag. Apr. 921/1 This presidential trust... Is terrible duties and responsibilities seemed rather a coat of steel armor, not only heavy to bear, but cutting remorselessly into the quick flesh.
1926 T. E. Lawrence Seven Pillars (subscribers' ed.) xliv. 233 If such animals [sc. camels] were taken suddenly inland for long marches over flints or other heat-retaining ground, their soles would burn, and at last crack in a blister; leaving quick flesh..in the centre of the pad.
1956 D. Lessing in New Statesman 30 June 768/3 With quickflesh contest if you need: There is no argument with bone.
1992 L. D. Brodsky Gestapo Crows iii. 66 Chicken hawks scanning the sides of highways For signs of carrion or quick flesh.
4.
a. Of a plant or part of a plant: alive, growing. Cf. quickwood n. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > by growth or development > [adjective]
quickOE
vegetablec1425
adolent?1440
vegetative1509
vegetate1574
vegetarya1595
vegetating1605
OE tr. Pseudo-Apuleius Herbarium (Vitell.) (1984) cxlvii. 190 Ðeos wyrt ðe is aizon & oðrum naman [singrenan] gecweden, seo is swylce heo symle cwycu sy.
OE Paris Psalter (1932) ciii. 16 Tydrað ealle, þa on Libanes lædeð [read lædað] on beorge cwice cederbeamas.
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 10002 Þeȝȝ wærenn o þe treo All cwike. & grene boȝhess.
1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum Arboure or place made with quicke springes.
1577 in W. H. Stevenson Rec. Borough Nottingham (1889) IV. 168 Dressyng of the hedge of quycke grose.
1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §514 Dividing a Quick-Tree downe to the Ground.
1664 J. Wilson Andronicus Comnenius v. iv. 79 In vain we fell a Tree, if yet we leave Quick roots behind.
1757 J. Dyer Fleece in Poems (1761) iii. 131 Quick weeds his hoe subdues.
1802 W. Forsyth Treat. Fruit-trees viii. 117 If any of the old dead snags remain, they should be cut off close to the quick wood.
1969 G. Greene Coll. Ess. II. ii. 96 Cutting away from the dead the quick wood.
b. Composed of living plants, esp. hawthorn, as quick fence, quick hedge, †quick mound. Cf. sense B. 4, quickset n.1 and adj.1 [Compare also the following early place-name evidence: Quictunstal (12th cent.; now Whittonstall, Northumberland), Quicham (late 12th cent.; now Whickham, Durham), both apparently originally having reference to places with a quickset hedge. With quick hedge compare early modern Dutch quickhaeghe.]
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > plants, grasses, or reeds > [adjective] > made of living plants
quickc1425
c1425 ( Bounds (Sawyer 140) in S. E. Kelly Charters of St. Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury (1995) 57 Þonne west be Æwille mearce oþ þone cwichege, suð andlang heges on þane bradan hegewai.
1469 in S. Tymms Wills & Inventories Bury St. Edmunds (1850) 45 The qwyk heige set frome the gate on to the hall doore.
?a1500 (?1458) in J. H. Parker Some Acct. Domest. Archit. (1859) III. ii. 42 (MED) These [perh. read Thus] weren the dyches i diged in ful harde grounde And i cast up to arere with the wey; Sethen they were i set with a quyk mownde To holde in the bunkes for ever and ay.
1568 T. Hill Proffitable Arte Gardening (rev. ed.) i. iv. f. 7v A quicke hedge (which we cal a quicke sette hedge).
1627 F. Little Monum. Christian Munif. (1871) 93 They fenced it with a quick mound.
1681 J. Worlidge Systema Agriculturæ (ed. 3) ii. 15 A thousand Acres of Land divided with good Quick-fences.
1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 140 A Quick or Living-Hedge.
1773 W. Hanbury Compl. Body Planting & Gardening I. 64/1 Now by a quick hedge..may be understood all growing hedges of what sort or nature soever.
1818 W. H. Marshall Rev. I. 44 The expense of making new quick fences.
1894 J. T. Fowler in St. Adamnan Vita S. Columbae Introd. 38 On top a palisade and quick hedge.
1924 Times 23 June 13/4 The beauty of the English scenery owes a good deal to the conjunction in the same plant [sc. hawthorn] of profuse, white-scented blossom, with..a habit of growth which specially fit it for forming a live or ‘quick’ fence.
1961 F. G. Cassidy Jamaica Talk v. 97 Bush-fence..means a live or quick hedge, such as one of pinguin.., cactus, or the like.
1998 Summary of World Broadcasts Pt. 3: Asia-Pacific (B.B.C.) (Nexis) 7 Jan. FE/W0519/WD City afforestation was intensified so that quick fences extending 3,000 km were built throughout the country.
5.
a. Of a fetus: alive; spec. that has reached the stage of quickening (quickening n.1 1b). Chiefly in with (also †mid) quick child.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > biological processes > procreation or reproduction > embryo or fetus > embryo development processes > [adjective]
quickOE
palaeogenetic1882
mosaic1893
protonic1902
previable1910
inductive1931
OE Metrical Charm: For Delayed Birth (Harl. 585) 10 Up ic gonge, ofer þe stæppe mid cwican cilde, nalæs mid cwellendum, mid fulborenum, nalæs mid fægan.
c1330 Sir Degare (Auch.) 164 in W. H. French & C. B. Hale Middle Eng. Metrical Romances (1930) 293 (MED) Lo, now ich am wiȝ quike schilde.
a1500 (?c1450) Merlin 12 She was grete with quyk childe [Fr. uif enfant].
1662 Culpeper's Directory for Midwives: 2nd Pt. iv. ix. 149 If it [sc. a hydatidiform mole] be with a quick child, it is hard to be known, but it is known by its weight in the womb, which she perceives when she gets up to walk or moves from side to side.
1752 J. Louthian Form of Process (ed. 2) 217 You of the Jury of Matrons..say, that E. L. is not pregnant with quick Child.
1847 Lancet 2 Oct. 368/1 They were summoned to that court as a jury of matrons, to perform a very solemn duty, which was, to ascertain whether the prisoner then standing at the bar was big with a quick child or not.
1931 Lancet 31 Jan. 266/2 The law has distinguished between the woman who has conceived and is ‘barely with child’ and that of the woman who has conceived ‘with quick child’, as though the old idea were true that the fœtus is not alive until the woman ‘quickens’.
2003 West's Southern Reporter 853 106/1 We hold that the wrongful death statute..includes an unborn child that is ‘quick’ in the womb as a ‘person’.
b. Pregnant with a live fetus; spec. at a stage of pregnancy when movements of the fetus have been felt (cf. quicken v.1 4, quickening n.1 1b). Chiefly in quick with child. Also figurative. Now archaic and rare.quick with child may have arisen by the inversion of the phrase with quick child at sense A. 5a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > biological processes > procreation or reproduction > pregnancy or gestation > [adjective]
greatc1175
with childc1175
with childc1300
baggeda1400
bounda1400
pregnant?a1425
quicka1450
greaterc1480
heavyc1480
teeming1530
great-bellied1533
big1535
boundenc1540
impregnate1540
great-wombeda1550
young with child1566
gravid1598
pregnate1598
pagled1599
enceinte1602
child-great1605
conceived1637
big-bellieda1646
brooding1667
in the (also a) family way1688
in the (also that) way1741
undelivered1799
ensient1818
enwombeda1822
in a delicate condition1827
gestant1851
in pod1890
up the (also a) pole1918
in a particular condition1922
preg?1927
in the spud line1937
up the spout1937
preggy1938
up the stick1941
preggers1942
in pig1945
primigravid1949
preggo1951
in a certain condition1958
gestating1961
up the creek1961
in the (pudding) cluba1966
gravidated-
a1450 (c1410) H. Lovelich Merlin (1904) I. l. 826 (MED) This good man Sawh that sche Qwyk with childe was.
1454 T. Denys in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) II. 86 She hath not gon viij wekis quykke.
1493 Festivall (1515) (de Worde) f. 106 Thenne conceyued Elyzabeth and whan she was quycke wt chylde [etc.].
1598 W. Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost v. ii. 674 Then shall Hector be whipt for Iaquenetta that is quicke by him. View more context for this quotation
c1616 R. C. Times' Whistle (1871) iii. 1163 His vnckles wife surviues, purchance Left quick with childe.
1647 J. Trapp Comm. Epist. & Rev. (Rom. ix. 11) Acknowledging..her issue for their Prince, before she as yet had felt her self quick.
1678 Lady Chaworth in 12th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS (1890) App. v. 51 Sister Salisbery and sister Ansley [are] both quicke with child.
1734 Duchess of Marlborough Let. 24 June in G. S. Thomson Lett. of Grandmother (1932) viii. 128 She is bigger than she was but not yet quick. I hope no accident will happen to her.
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth II. 43 Women..quick with child, as their expression is, at the end of two months.
1838 Jrnl. Statist. Soc. 1 237 Attempts to procure the Miscarriage of Women quick with Child.
1870 J. R. Lowell Among my Bks. 1st Ser. 238 Puritanism, believing itself quick with the seed of religious liberty, laid, without knowing it, the egg of democracy.
1905 Columbia Law Rev. 5 540 Where a woman, convicted of a capital crime, was alleged to be quick with child, the writ de ventre inspiciendo was allowed in order to prevent taking the life of an unborn child.
1990 S. King Stand (new ed.) xlv. 491 A young and pretty Abagail, three months quick with child.
6. Alive with or characterized by some feeling, quality, etc.In some cases probably overlapping with sense A. 21.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > [adjective] > full of or affected by emotion
taintc1330
thorough-thrilled1496
moved1527
feeling1583
emotioned1765
thorough-felt1789
instinct1797
quick1837
thrilled1850
emotional1851
enfraught1866
misty1957
the mind > emotion > excitement > [adjective]
fevering?a1200
upreareda1382
warm1390
amoveda1400
entalented1402
stirred1483
intoxicatea1533
roused1575
vibrant1575
waked1581
irritated1595
uproused1597
gunpowdered1604
concitated1652
exagitated1659
animated1660
upstirreda1666
instinct1667
hot-headed1679
flushed1749
abubble1766
agig1767
fermentitious1807
suscitated1811
effervescent1833
effervescing1837
quick1837
galvanized1843
ginger beery1849
excited1855
ablaze1859
het1862
effervescible1866
thrilly1893
piqued1902
all of a doodah1915
hopped-up1923
adrenalized1935
volted1936
hyped1938
spooked up1939
twitterpated1942
up1942
jazzed1955
psyched1963
amped1967
plugged-in1967
torqued1967
buzzy1978
1837 B. Disraeli Venetia II. 163 That languid form quick with excitement.
1845 P. J. Bailey Festus (ed. 2) 315 Thy palpitating piles of ruin..quick With soul immortal.
1873 W. H. Dixon Hist. Two Queens I. i. ix. 63 In Barcelona everyone was quick with rage.
1883 A. E. Hake Story Chinese Gordon (1884) xii. 294 To give peace to a country quick with war.
1916 E. R. Burroughs Beasts of Tarzan viii. 120 Until the last spark of life should flicker and go out, his whole being would remain quick with hope and determination.
1978 Sci. Amer. Sept. 35/1 But long before any reptile trod the ground the sea was quick with life.
1989 A. Dillard Writing Life vi. 88 A Dinka believes his own memories and daydreams to be external to himself, as external as the hills, and quick with substance.
II. Of a thing: having a specific quality characteristic or suggestive of a living thing.
* In a sound or natural condition; fresh; productive.† 8. Of the complexion: ruddy, fresh. Obsolete.† 9. Of something seen: lifelike, vivid. Obsolete.
7. † b. Of rock: still in situ, forming part of the earth's mass; = living rock n. at living adj. and n.1 Compounds. Obsolete.† c. Of earth: that has never been ploughed. Obsolete.
a. Of sulphur: occurring naturally, native. Now archaic.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > fuel > a combustible substance > [adjective] > of sulphur, etc.
quickeOE
live1894
eOE Bald's Leechbk. (Royal) (1865) ii. xxxii. 234 Wyrc him sealfe þus wiþ wambe coþum, of cwicum swefle & of blacum pipore & of ele, gnide mon smæle & menge togædere & weax, ealra emfela.
?1316 Short Metrical Chron. (Royal) 181 in J. Ritson Anc. Eng. Metrical Romanceës (1802) II. 277 (MED) Y schal telle..Hou hote bathe ymaked ys..Feole thinges ther beth ynne..Quic brimston and other alsuo.
a1475 Sidrak & Bokkus (Lansd.) in Centaurus (1968) 12 225 (MED) Quicke brimstone þat men calle Comeþ of leeuens þat ofte falle Vpon roches by þe see.
1559 P. Morwyng tr. C. Gesner Treasure of Euonymus 323 ij unces of bothe kindes of Sulphur or brimstone, that is of the quik and dead.
1661 R. Lovell Πανζωορυκτολογια, sive Panzoologicomineralogia 107 Honey, nitre,..and quick brimstone, reduced unto the consistence of honey.
1756 G. Smith tr. Laboratory (new ed.) II. xiii. 253 Take callamitta one pound, salt-nitre and asphaltum, of each four ounces, quick brimstone three ounces, liquid varnish six ounces, make them all into a paste.
1868 Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) 9 Jan. 3/5 The undermentioned Goods, just received... 14 lbs of Quick Sulphur.
1917 Mountain Democrat (Placerville, Calif.) 23 June 7/4 Greek fire..was said to be composed of quick sulphur, dregs of wine, [etc.].
1966 Chicago Tribune 16 Oct. a12/4 Take quick sulphur, dregs of wine, Persian gum, baked salt, pitch, petroleum, and common oil.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > rock > [adjective] > natural
quicka1500
a1500 Partenay (Trin. Cambr.) 1125 Vppon the quicke Roche thay it sett tho.
a1500 Partenay (Trin. Cambr.) 4352 This Geant bold..fled for fere..Within the quike roche.
1625 S. Purchas tr. A. De Herrera Descr. W. Indies in Pilgrimes III. v. i. 889 They made certaine Wells most deepe in a quicke Rocke, which at this day are seene very fresh and cold.
1712 J. Morton Nat. Hist. Northants. i. 113 Our Stonecutters work them..upon the spot, as soon as they are taken from the Quick Rock..and whilst they are moist.
1798 P. J. Laborie Coffee Planter of St. Domingo i. 8 The soil on the mountains..lies upon quick rock.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > breaking up land > ploughing > [adjective] > unploughed
unearedc1000
unploughed1523
unharrowed1580
unfoiled1611
quick1620
maiden1622
1620 G. Markham Farwell to Husbandry ii. 14 You shall be sure to raise vp the quick earth which had not beene stirred vp with the Plow before.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > [adjective] > of health: good > healthy looking
quick?c1225
freshc1380
slickc1440
well-hueda1500
sleek1638
jollya1661
sonsy1720
sleekyc1725
well-looking1725
clean-run1881
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 246 Ischrift þe cwike rude oðe neb deð to understonden þet þesaule þe wes bla. & nefde bute dead heow. haueð icacht cwich [c1230 Corpus cwic] heow.
c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) iv. 567 (MED) Now was the cors of þis worþi knyȝt..as quik of hewe To be-holde as any rose newe.
a1500 ( J. Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. (Rawl.) (1898) 223 (MED) The fryste tokyn of good complexcion Is temperid flesshe..The ve. Is that a man haue quyke coloure.
a1600 (?c1535) tr. H. Boece Hist. Scotl. (Mar Lodge) f. 408v, in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue at Quik His coloure was hail & quyk.
a1693 J. Aubrey Brief Lives (1898) I. 60 [W. Aubrey] He had a delicate, quick, lively..complexion.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > thing seen > [adjective] > sight or spectacle > lifelike or vivid
quickc1400
c1400 (?c1380) Pearl 1179 Fro alle þe syȝtez so quykez [perh. read quyke] and queme.
a1500 tr. Thomas à Kempis De Imitatione Christi (Trin. Dublin) (1893) 19 Beholde þe quicke [L. vivida] ensamples of olde fadres.
1533 J. Bellenden tr. Livy Hist. Rome (1901) I. Prol. 4 Of awfull batallis,..Ȝe may fynd here,..Als quyk as þai war led afore ȝour Ee.
?a1591 King James VI & I Poems (1955) I. 161 Of oure boddies dead so quikke & many mirrouris cleare.
10. † a. Mining. Of a vein or other source of mined material: containing ore, productive. Cf. dead adj. 10. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > minerals > mineral sources > [adjective] > productive
richc1536
quick1676
1676 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 11 735 Subterraneous Vaults or Grotto's, whereof some..are said by our Miners to be quick, having often oar in them.
1711 H. Mackworth Bk. Vouchers 15 In a Vein which he always called a dead Vein, by good Fortune struck into a quick Vein, in which considerable Quantities of Ore were raised.
1789 J. Williams Nat. Hist. Mineral Kingdom I. ii. 277 A quick vein, or a bearing vein, is one that carries ore, and a dead vein is one that only carries some sort..of mineral soil.
1881 Trans. Amer. Inst. Mining Engineers 1880–1 9 167 Quick, applied to a productive vein as distinguished from dead or barren.
b. Of stock, assets, etc.: floating, liquid; (in early use) esp. available to liquidate a debt.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > management of money > income, revenue, or profit > getting or making money > [adjective] > profitable
winning1435
lucrous1511
beneficial1526
lucrative1526
gainful1561
profitful1568
gainsome1579
profiting1590
requiteful1607
pennisome1631
lucriferous1648
opulent1648
emolumental1664
quick1681
well-metalleda1734
pay-rent1742
profitable1758
emolumentary1775
remunerative1813
economical1815
repaying1820
well-paying1832
benefited1837
paying1841
payable1855
money-making1887
economic1899
bankable1927
megadollar1963
money-spinning1973
1681 J. Child Treat. E.-India Trade ii. 11 The quick Stock of the English East-India Company is at this time more than the Dutch quick Stock proportionable to their respective first Subscriptions.
1701 N. Luttrell Diary in Brief Hist. Relation State Affairs (1857) V. 1 The quick stock of both companies shal be paid for discharge of their debts.
a1711 T. Ken Christophil in Wks. (1721) I. 423 I..spent on the Quick-stock which I could never drain.
1748 G. G. Beekman Let. 23 Aug. in Beekman Mercantile Papers (1956) I. 58 The Grind Stone will not Suit me at So high a Price. Rum is Started again and Pretty Quick at the Price on foot but markts are so Precarious that In short I am afraid and I cannot advice you what to Send.
1817 J. Mill Hist. Brit. India I. i. v. 81 The estimate which was shown of their quick and dead stock.
1891 Pall Mall Gaz. 19 Nov. 7/1 The quick assets [of the American Cotton Oil Trust]..amounted on August 31 last to 5,928,338 dols.
1942 J. M. Keynes Note 10 Sept. in Coll. Writings (1979) XXIII. 250 It is better not to melt quick assets into cash before we need.
1996 Which? Guide to starting your own Business (new ed.) vi. 107 A further test—the acid test—is to see how far current liabilities can be paid out of quick assets; expressed as the ‘quick ratio’, this will be less than the current ratio, and often less than 1:1.
** Having some form of activity or energy.† 12. Of speech, writing, etc.: lively; full of wit or acute reasoning. Obsolete.† 13. Originally (of a place or time): full of activity; busy. In later use (of trade): brisk. Obsolete.† 14. Of wine or beer: light, lively; effervescent. Obsolete.
11.
a. Of a coal: live, burning. Now archaic and rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > heat > burning > [adjective]
quickeOE
burningc1000
swealinga1023
tinded1297
alightc1400
flamed1413
alive1571
comburent1599
combustious1622
combustible1632
conflagrant1656
the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > heat > burning > fire or flame > [adjective] > live or burning (of coals)
quickeOE
live1572
lively1581
living1697
eOE Bald's Leechbk. (Royal) (1865) ii. xxviii. 224 Meng togædere & do to fyre on croccan ofer, wylle on godum gledum clænum & cwicum.
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 205 (MED) A quic col berninde ope ane hyeape of dyade coles.
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) Prov. xxvi. 21 As deade coles to quyke coles & wode to fijr, so a wrathe-ful man rereþ striues.
?a1425 Mandeville's Trav. (Egerton) (1889) 142 If a man..couer þe coles þeroff with aschez, þai will hald in quikk [?a1425 Titus abyden all quyk] a twelfmonth and mare.
1483 ( tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage of Soul (Caxton) (1859) iii. ix. 55 Quyck coles whiche brente them full bytterly.
1581 T. Howell His Deuises sig. E.ijv Kindled coales close kept, continue longest quick.
1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. ii. i. 310 Dead-seeming coales, but quick.
1657 J. Trapp Comm. Psalms cxx. 4 Juniper..maketh a very scorching fire, and quick coals, such as last long.
1764 T. Harmer Observ. Passages Script. iii. 118 They..put it into an oven upon the quick coals.
1777 E. H. Delaval Exper. Inq. Opake & Coloured Bodies 110 We..placed it with the pigment uppermost, upon a few quick coals to neal a while.
1872 Jrnl. Royal Geogr. Soc. 42 124 Easily ignited, it burns freely with a whitish smoke, and retains a red heat a long time. It would be called by engineers a rather ‘quick’ coal.
1932 A. MacLeish Conquistador v. 56 Their heels scattered the quick coals and we caught them.
b. Originally (of a fire or flame): burning strongly (now somewhat archaic). In later use (chiefly of an oven): that provides a strong flame; hot. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > heat > burning > a fire > [adjective] > strong or brisk
sada1450
quick1604
rousing1654
strong1765
brisk1830
the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > equipment for food preparation > stove or cooker > [adjective] > exposed to quick fire (of oven)
quick1769
?a1425 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. iv. pr. vii. 24 A wyght constreynede tho doutes by a ryght lifly and quyk fir of thought [L. uiuacissimo mentis igne], that is to seyn, by vigour and strengthe of wit.
1592 T. Lodge Euphues Shadow sig. L Now gan the sparke of affection long smothered in cinders to discouer it self, the coles became quicke fire.
1604 E. Grimeston tr. J. de Acosta Nat. & Morall Hist. Indies ii. vii. 96 If it [sc. the fire] bee quicke and violent, it doth greatly evaporate the quick-silver.
1624 F. Quarles Sions Sonets xx. 19 Thy breath..incends quicke flames, where Ember'd sparkes but shine.
1708 J. C. Compl. Collier 4 in T. Nourse Mistery of Husbandry Discover'd (ed. 3) [It] makes a hot quick Fire.
1723 J. Nott Cook's & Confectioner's Dict. sig. F2v Take..large Pippins..cut them in halves..squeeze a Lemon..over them..grate over them..Sugar..put them into a quick Oven.
1769 E. Raffald Experienced Eng. House-keeper i. 5 Bake it in a quick Oven three Hours.
1820 P. B. Shelley Prometheus Unbound iii. i. 98 God! Spare me! I sustain not the quick flames.
1863 C. Reade Hard Cash xiv You will cook your own goose—by a quick fire.
1892 T. F. Garrett & W. A. Rawson Encycl. Pract. Cookery I. 350/2 Cheese Straws,..bake for ten minutes in a quick oven.
1923 W. G. R. Francillon Good Cookery (ed. 2) xxi. 386 Currant loaf... Set to prove. Then bake in a quick oven for about fifteen minutes.
1950 P. W. Handel Outdoor Chef 3 Dead leaves should never be used as tinder, since they will smolder rather than burn with a quick flame.
2005 Springfield (Missouri) News-Leader (Nexis) 20 Feb. 1 b Bake in a quick oven (375 degree) for approximately 8 to 10 minutes.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > vigour or force > [adjective] > lively
quick?c1225
lively1525
spirited1670
living1699
sparkling1701
tittuping1772
vivacious1788
dashing1796
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 130 Þe achtuðe reisun is for to habbe quic bone.
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 134 (MED) Hi nolleþ yleue god wyþ-oute guod wed, þet is to ziggene, bote-ȝef hi y-zy kuik scele.
c1387–95 G. Chaucer Canterbury Tales Prol. 306 Noght oo word spak he moore than was neede, And that was seid in forme and reuerence And short and quyk and ful of heigh sentence.
a1425 (?a1400) Bk. Priue Counseling in P. Hodgson Cloud of Unknowing (1944) 142 (MED) Þis is soþ by witnes of Scripture, bi ensaumple of Crist, & bi quik reson.
c1475 (?c1400) Apol. Lollard Doctr. (1842) 8 Aȝen swilk feynid..indulgens howiþ a feiþful prest to multiply quek resouns.
1531 T. Elyot Bk. named Gouernour i. x. sig. Dvii Some quicke and mery dialoges, elect out of Luciane.
1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie i. xxviii. 45 An inscription..in few verses, pithie, quicke and sententious.
1635 A. Gil Sacred Philos. Holy Script. Pref. sig. *4 Though his writings be easie and quicke, yet his matiers are scattered.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > manner of action > vigour or energy > [adjective] > brisk or active > full of brisk activity (of times or places)
quickc1395
busy1530
stirring1647
vital1742
lively1764
busyish1851
buzzing1882
mouvementé1888
bubbling1912
society > trade and finance > [adjective] > good or bad (of trade)
well-traded1609
sulke1636
quicka1687
dull1705
brisk1719
roaring1731
rousing1767
slow1823
briskish1864
upwith1864
excited1878
turnaway1943
c1395 G. Chaucer Franklin's Tale 1502 Amydde the toun, right in the quykkest strete.
a1552 J. Leland Itinerary (1710) I. 6 A good quik Market Toune.
a1642 H. Best Farming & Memorandum Bks. (1984) 108 The kinge beinge there the marketts weare very quicke.
a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) Lanc. 106 He called Manchester, the fairest and quickest Town in this County.
a1687 W. Petty Polit. Arithm. (1690) 18 Some where or other in the World, Trade is always quick enough.
1730 J. Thomson Winter in Seasons 223 Pure, quick, and sportful, is the wholesome day.
1794 H. L. Piozzi Brit. Synonymy 50 A notable woman, say we, is of admirable utility in a small shop of quick trade, and numerous customers.
1846 E. Hall Puritans & their Princ. iii. 69 The carvers and makers of statues had a quick trade for roods and other images that were to be set up in the churches.
1918 Times 18 Nov. 12/ A quick trade done at regulation process.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > intoxicating liquor > types or qualities of intoxicating liquor > [adjective] > sparkling
sparklinga1500
lively1615
quick1620
smirking1648
nitty1654
smiling1725
huffy1766
up1815
1620 T. Venner Via Recta ii. 25 A pure and quicke wine.
1677 A. Yarranton England's Improvem. 122 As the different heat of the Climate is, so the Liquor [sc. mum] shall ripen and grow quick and fit to drink.
1730 J. Thomson Autumn in Seasons 159 The mellow-tasted Burgundy; and quick, As is the wit it gives, the bright Champaign.
1763 W. Perfect Bavin of Bays 16 Till luscious Wines are from the vintage prest, The quick Champagne, and Burgundy the best.
*** Producing a strong effect on the senses or mind.† 15.
a. Of the voice: loud, clear. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > voice or vocal sound > quality of voice > [adjective] > clear
quickc1275
clearc1300
express?c1450
preclare?1553
light1620
precise1846
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) 6140 Heo..him cleopeden quickere stæuene [c1300 mid swiþe loude stemne].
1703 tr. N. Aubin Cheats & Illusions Romish Priests iii. 266 The Head turning backward, he was heard to pronounce with a strong and quick Voice, which came from the bottom of the Breast.
b. With reference to colour: vivid, bright, dazzling. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > colour > quality of colour > [adjective] > vivid or bright
brightOE
skirea1400
livelyc1425
quickc1425
freshlyc1426
flamingc1450
vive1591
florid1642
vivid1665
hot1673
living1699
aurorean1880
vibrant1971
c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) ii. 3342 (MED) Flora..Hath euery playn, medwe, hil, & vale With hir flouris quik and no þing pale Over-sprad.
1664 H. Power Exper. Philos. i. 13 Eyes..of a very quick and lively transparency or fulgour.
1851 G. Meredith Love in Valley xx Slain are the poppies that shot their random scarlet Quick amid the wheatears.
16. Of a feeling: keen, strongly felt. Now somewhat archaic.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > intense emotion > [adjective]
inmostc897
inlyeOE
mucha1200
deepa1400
inwardc1402
quickc1449
piercingc1450
sharpc1480
profound1526
feeling1531
visceral1575
infelta1586
hearty?1614
hearteda1616
home-felt1637
exquisitea1656
deep-rooted1669
intimate1671
exalted1704
bosom-felt1771
pathologic1891
bone deep1900
c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 183 If bi the ymagis..schulde be maad eny quyk and feruent and solempne and miche deuout remembraunce.
1551 R. Robinson tr. T. More Vtopia sig. Qviiiv Onles they, by quycke repentaunce approue the amendement of their lyffes.
1665 J. Glanvill Sciri Tuum: Authors Defense 75 in Scepsis Scientifica I have still a quick resentment of the Vanity of confiding in Opinions.
1683 W. Cave Ecclesiastici 419 His style..leaves a picquancy and quick relish in the Readers mind.
1710 R. Steele Tatler No. 196. ⁋5 These have in their several Stations a quick Relish of the exquisite Pleasure of doing Good.
1752 Ld. Chesterfield Let. 5 Mar. (1932) (modernized text) V. 1844 The scene of quick and lively pleasures.
1848 P. J. Bailey Festus (ed. 3) 87 Firestranded, rolling in quick agony.
1883 Harper's Mag. Oct. 795/2 That quick sense of justice and manly determination ‘to see fair play’ which is so admirable a characteristic of the English-speaking race.
1904 J. London Sea-wolf i. 8 The water was cold—so cold that it was painful. The pang, as I plunged into it, was as quick and sharp as that of fire.
1914 S. Lewis Our Mr. Wrenn xviii. 243 The quick agony in her voice almost set them both weeping.
1974 R. Kirk in R. C. Orem Montessori 11 They take a dreadful joy in the perils of their hero, and a quick pleasure in his redemption.
17. † a. Of speech or writing: sharp, caustic. Obsolete.† b. Of a taste or smell: sharp, pungent. Also of a thing: having a sharp taste or smell. Obsolete.† d. Of that which causes pain. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > vigour or force > [adjective] > mordant
smartc1330
unkeen?a1425
mordant1474
piquant1521
pugnant1537
quick1542
nippingc1547
nippy1575
cutting1582
yarking1593
stinging1600
pointed1617
pungent1619
toothed1628
aculeate1640
mordacious1648
aculeated1655
piperaceous1674
peppery1826
pointy1883
lashing1900
1542 T. Elyot Bibliotheca Axamenta, verses made by the pryestes of Mars, called Salij, in quicke tauntynge of all men.
1568 in J. Anderson Coll. Mary Queen of Scotl. (1728) IV. ii. 84 It was na wounder in case her majestie had gevin thame quike and scharpe answeris.
1580 J. Lyly Euphues & his Eng. (new ed.) f. 29v A quicke aunswere that might cut him.
1589 T. Nashe To Students in R. Greene Menaphon Epist. sig. **2v In scholler-like matters of controuersie, a quicker stile may pass as commendable.
1616 J. Bullokar Eng. Expositor Quippe, a quicke checke, a pretty taunt.
1685 in Roxburghe Ballads IV. 284 These quirks are too quick, you do put on me.
1749 S. Johnson Vanity Human Wishes 7 How wouldst thou..Dart the quick Taunt, and edge the piercing Gibe?
1869 E. Prentiss Stepping Heavenward xxii. 336 And with the sewing the old pain in the side has come back, and the sharp, quick speech that I hate, and that Ernest hates, and that everybody hates.
1890 F. Tennyson Isles of Greece 344 Others laugh'd, And gibed, and vex'd me with quick taunts.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > taste and flavour > sourness or acidity > [adjective] > pungent
sharpc1000
hotc1175
poignantc1387
keen1398
angryc1400
eager?c1400
tartc1405
argutec1420
mordicative?a1425
mordificative?a1425
piperinea1425
pungitive?a1425
pikea1475
vehement1490
oversharpa1500
over-stronga1500
penetrating?1576
penetrative1578
quick1578
piercing1593
exalted1594
mordicant1603
acute1620
toothed1628
pungent1644
piquant1645
tartarous1655
mordacious1657
piperate1683
peppery1684
tartish1712
hyperoxide1816
snell1835
mordanta1845
shrill1864
piperitious1890
the world > physical sensation > smell and odour > fetor > [adjective] > of a smell: bad
sourc1340
sourish1398
unclean?1440
rankish1495
rank1570
penetrating?1576
quick1578
musk cat1609
acute1620
loud1641
nauseous1649
loud-flavoured1866
1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball v. xx. 574 These two Purcelaynes are..of a sharpe or quicke taste.
1584 Partridge's Treasurie (rev. ed.) xxxviii. sig. B8 Take of white sanders,..but looke that they be newe of ryghte sweete odour, for if they be olde, and haue no pleasant and quick odour, they are nothyng worth.
1633 T. Johnson Gerard's Herball (new ed.) ii. 758 The wilde Pellitorie groweth vp like vnto wilde Cheruile.., of a quick and nipping taste, like the leaues of Dittander.
1651 J. French Art Distillation v. 126 It will tast as quick as bottle beer that is a fortnight old.
1694 Narbrough's Acct. Several Late Voy. 68 This Rind..is hotter than Pepper and more quicker.
1758 A. Reid tr. P. J. Macquer Elements Theory & Pract. Chym. I. 33 Its smell is..extremely quick and suffocating when it smokes.
1797 Encycl. Brit. I. 625/2 Their smell is quick and penetrating, their taste pungent.
c. Chiefly poetic. Of light or air: sharp, piercing.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > light > intensity of light > [adjective] > dazzling or glaring
blazinga1387
piercinga1400
sulȝart1513
dazzling1581
overbright1587
glaring?c1600
bisson1604
quick1609
glary1632
severe1648
overpowering1700
aglare1712
adazzle1832
bedazzling1852
unbeholdable1855
braying1922
the world > matter > gas > air > [adjective] > specific qualities of (the) air > (becoming) sharp
sharpc1435
quick1609
sharpening1834
1609 W. Shakespeare Pericles xv. 80 The ayre is quicke there, And it perces and sharpens the stomacke.
1818 J. Keats Endymion ii. 96 Other light, Though it be quick and sharp enough to blight The Olympian eagle's vision, is dark.
1839 E. S. Wortley Visionary iii. ii. 201 Before her shines, at length, a quick light through the dark.
1959 V. Watkins Cypress & Acacia 54 The quick light of that cry disturbs the gloom.
1981 P. Bland Stone Tents 33 The quick light stings my eyes awake.
ΚΠ
a1716 R. South Serm. Several Occasions (1744) XI. 27 The punishment of the cross is..the quickest and the most acute.
**** Possessed of motion.
18. Of sand, the ground, etc.: mobile, shifting, readily yielding to pressure. Chiefly in quicksand n. Cf. quick clay n. at Compounds 1b.Recorded earliest in quicksand n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > landscape > marsh, bog, or swamp > [adjective] > quaking bog
quicka1300
quaggy1596
quagginga1627
quagmired1793
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > earth or soil > soil qualities > [adjective] > mobile
quicka1300
a1300 ( Charter in Early Yorks. Charters (Yorks. Archæol. Soc.) (1939) VI. 133 lx acras de propria hereditate quam tenet de nobis..scilicet illam terram..ultra quicsand.
tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) iii. l. 215 (MED) Let make a skeppe..And fille hit with quik molde [L. viua terra], & therin wrappe This scion.
a1500 (c1340) R. Rolle Psalter (Univ. Oxf. 64) (1884) i. 1 As he that gas on qwik grauel, that gers him synk that standis thar on.
1602 R. Carew Surv. Cornwall i. f. 8v The quicke ground (as they call it) that mooued with the floud.
1697 Philos. Trans. 1695–7 (Royal Soc.) 19 352 Great Freshes..make the Sands Shift, and consequently Quick.
1750 R. Heath Nat. & Hist. Acct. Scilly 256 By this Shaft they also perceive which was the quick Ground..that moved with the Flood, and which the firm, wherein lies no Shoad.
1771 T. Smollett Humphry Clinker III. 78 The Solway sands..are exceedingly dangerous, because, as the tide makes, they become quick in different places.
1875 W. D. Parish Dict. Sussex Dial. 101/2 You should not ride on the sands so soon after the tide has turned, for they are sure to be quick and shifting.
1890 P. H. Emerson Wild Life 58 I pulled my legs out of the soft ooze, and was soon across the patch of quick ground.
1963 Means & Parcher Physical Prop. Soils xi. 333 The velocity of the upward flowing water required to cause the soil to become quick.
1991 Climber & Hill Walker (BNC) Aug. 12 I scoffed at such nonsense, and leapt up the beach,..only to fall flat in the surf, as the waves turned sand from firm to quick.
19. Of a well, spring, stream, etc.: running, flowing; (now chiefly) spec. fast-flowing.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > water > flow or flowing > [adjective]
livingeOE
flowinga1000
runningOE
quicka1300
livish?1536
lively1548
streaming1579
streamyc1595
crystal-flowing1605
preterlabent1670
manant1727
affluent1863
the world > the earth > water > body of water > moving water > [noun]
quicka1300
backwatera1387
main flood?1556
main tide1605
confluence1615
swash1671
flow1802
sweep1816
water slide1824
slide1869
run-off1915
a1300 (c1275) Physiologus (1991) 222 Ðanne we ðus brennen, Bihoueð us to rennen To Cristes quike welle.
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 98 To lhade of þe zeue streames þe quikke weteres.
c1400 Bk. to Mother (Bodl.) 145 (MED) Wiþ quyke water..wash þi feet of þi soule.
c1450 (?a1405) J. Lydgate Complaint Black Knight (Fairf.) 77 in Minor Poems (1934) ii. 386 (MED) I sawe a litel welle..with quyke stremes colde.
c1480 (a1400) St. George 319 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) II. 185 In þe mydis þe altere a quyk wel sprang.
c1480 in D. Gray & E. G. Stanley Middle Eng. Stud. (1983) 138 To strange contreys as pylgrims byyonde þe quike see.
a1500 tr. Thomas à Kempis De Imitatione Christi (Trin. Dublin) (1893) 77 (MED) Of me litel & gret, poure & riche, drawith quyk water, as of þe welle of lif.
1600 P. Holland tr. Livy Rom. Hist. xlii. liv. 1147 The place is..watered also with many quicke and running springs.
a1684 J. Evelyn Diary anno 1677 (1955) IV. 111 Whose house stands inviron'd with very sweete & quick streams.
c1710 C. Fiennes Diary (1888) 289 Its not a quick spring and very often is dranke drye.
1775 London Mag. Nov. 556/2 She has an eye of that quick and brilliant water, that it penetrates and darts through the person it looks on.
1816 Ld. Byron Parisina xx, in Siege of Corinth 88 The living stream lies quick below, And flows—and cannot cease to flow.
a1862 H. D. Thoreau Maine Woods (1864) 276 The Indian navigator naturally distinguishes by a name those parts of a stream where he has encountered quick water and forks.
a1894 W. Pater Gaston de Latour (1896) iii. 75 Gently winding valleys, with clear, quick water.
1894 Harper's Mag. Apr. 782/1 That quick water's the Mahkin Rapids.
1905 L. Mott Jules of Great Heart xxi. 260 Nearer and nearer sounded the quick water of the thoroughfare between Lac des Rochers and the dead-water of Rivière du Renard.
1951 H. Giles Harbin's Ridge xxiii. 201 I couldn't say a word for the knot in my throat, and my eyes stung with quick water.
1980 W. Manchester Goodbye, Darkness 98 At first the only sound was the quick water of the serpentine river below.
III. Possessing the vigour or energy characteristic of life; distinguished by or capable of prompt or rapid action or movement.In predicative use, frequently followed by a to-infinitive or a preposition, as of, in, about, at, †for, †unto. Cf. to be quick off (occasionally also on) the mark at mark n.1 33c.† 27. Of steel: breaking readily; brittle. Obsolete.
20.
a. Of the mind and its qualities or operations, esp. wit: alert, active, keenly perceptive; ready, lively, agile.In some cases overlapping with sense A. 26; cf. also sense A. 24.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > intelligence, cleverness > sharpness, shrewdness, insight > [adjective] > of mind, mental operations: sharp
quickOE
readya1393
piercingc1425
piercive1567
perforating1578
sharp1580
nimble1589
sudden1604
smirk1607
apprehensive1621
emunct1679
arrowing1793
keen1794
thorough-edged1830
fast1850
insightful1907
OE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Corpus Oxf.) v. xvii. 452 He þa cwices modes geornlice leornade þa þing þe he þær geseah & sceawode.
a1450 Pater Noster Richard Ermyte (Westm. Sch. 3) (1967) 56 (MED) He schulde haue had..his witt, his skil, his vndirstondyng so scharp & so quyk þat wiþouten lettyng he myȝt conceyue al þe clergye of þe worlde.
?a1475 (a1396) W. Hilton Scale of Perfection (Harl. 6579) i. lxxxix. f. 60 (MED) How wis, how quik, and how mikil sauour þou hast in erdli þinges.
1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection i. sig. Cii In there owne pregnaunt and quycke wytte & reason.
1551 R. Robinson tr. T. More Vtopia sig. Nii The wyttes therefore of the Vtopians..be maruelous quycke in the inuentyon of feates.
1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie iii. xvi. 154 Synecdoche,..because it seemeth to aske a good, quick, and pregnant capacitie,..I chose to call him the figure..of quick conceite.
1644 J. Bulwer Chirologia 10 A smirke, quick and dextericall wit.
1651 T. Hobbes Leviathan i. xiii. 60 One man..of quicker mind then another.
a1715 Bp. G. Burnet Hist. Own Time (1724) I. 354 Lord Sunderland was a man of..a quick decision in business.
1786 W. Paley Princ. Moral & Polit. Philos. (ed. 2) iii. iii. ix. 300 At our public schools..quick parts are cultivated, slow ones are neglected.
1804 Ann. Rev. 2 79/1 The author is evidently a man of quick observation and lively fancy.
1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 310 Queen Mary..had naturally a quick perception of what was excellent in art.
1875 B. Jowett tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) IV. 287 Those who..have quick and ready and retentive wits, have generally also quick tempers.
1912 C. Mathewson Pitching in Pinch vi. 124 Offensive coaching means the handling of base runners, and requires quick and accurate judgement.
1957 R. Hoggart Uses of Literacy (1959) 96 A smart young son with a quick brain and a bundle of up-to-date opinions beside his sentimental, superstitious and old-fashioned mother.
1989 B. Paris Louise Brooks i. ix. 214 His swaggering presence came equipped with a quick mind and sharp tongue.
b. Of a person: mentally alert or agile; prompt to learn, think, or understand; intelligent; of ready wit.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > intelligence, cleverness > sharpness, shrewdness, insight > [adjective]
sharpc888
yepec1000
spacka1200
yare-witelc1275
fellc1300
yap13..
seeinga1382
far-castinga1387
sightya1400
perceivinga1425
snellc1425
politic?a1439
quickc1449
pregnant?a1475
pert1484
quick-wittedc1525
apt1535
intelligentc1540
queemc1540
ready-witted1576
political1577
of (a) great, deep, etc., reach1579
conceited1583
perspicuous1584
sharp-witteda1586
shrewd1589
inseeing1590
conceived1596
acute1598
pregnate1598
agile1599
nimble-headed1601
insighted1602
nimble1604
nimble-witted1604
penetrant1605
penetrating1606
spraga1616
acuminous1619
discoursing1625
smart1639
penetrativea1641
sagacious1650
nasute1653
acuminate1654
blunt-sharpa1661
long-headed1665
smoky1688
rapid1693
keen1704
gash1706
snack1710
cute1731
mobile1778
wide awake1785
acuminated1786
quick-minded1789
kicky1790
snap1790
downy1803
snacky1806
unbaffleable1827
varmint1829
needle-sharp1836
nimble-brained1836
incisivea1850
spry1849
fast1850
snappy1871
hard-boiled1884
on the spot1903
c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 243 (MED) Manye weren quycker in natural witt and waxiden better philsophiris.
1484 W. Caxton tr. Subtyl Historyes & Fables Esope xii Two prestes..of whome that one was quyck and coude putte hym self forth.
a1535 T. More Hist. Richard III in Wks. (1557) 57/1 For a proper wit had she, & could both rede wel & write, mery in company, redy & quick of aunswer, neither mute nor ful of bable.
1551 R. Robinson tr. T. More Vtopia sig. Mviii The people be gentle, merye, quycke, and fyne wytted.
1575 J. Rolland Treat. Court Venus Prol. sig. Aijv Quik of Ingyne, of Lordschip couetous.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Antony & Cleopatra (1623) v. ii. 212 The quicke Comedians Extemporally will stage vs. View more context for this quotation
1640 E. Reynolds Treat. Passions xiii. 121 Another by nature quicke and of noble intellectuals wholly applyeth himselfe unto it [sc. learning].
a1674 T. Traherne Christian Ethicks (1675) 540 A quick and lively Perceiver, a tender Sence, and sprightly Intelligence.
1742 H. Fielding Joseph Andrews II. iv. x. 259 He, who was quick of Apprehension, taking Lennard aside, prest him so home, that he at last discovered the Secret. View more context for this quotation
1772 ‘Junius’ Stat Nominis Umbra II. lxviii. 310 Learned..you are, and quick in apprehension.
1792 Ld. Auckland's Corr. (1861) II. 410 He is a quick, sensible man.
1793 F. Burney Let. 2 Aug. (1972) II. 178 Ah, my dear Marianne—you are as quick as lightning.
1850 Ld. Tennyson Princess (ed. 3) Prol. 7 I would teach them all that men are taught; We are twice as quick!
1890 H. James Tragic Muse I. ii. 23 Bridget Dormer, who was quick, estimated him immediately as a gentleman.
1931 V. Woolf Waves 189 One must be quick and add facts deftly.
1976 I. Murdoch Henry & Cato i. 8 ‘The little one is a puny child,’ he had heard his mother saying in a context where Sandy was being praised, and quick Henry learnt a new word.
1991 Independent 1 Nov. 21/4 In receipt of another lofty lecture from Mr Hurd, it was quick of Jacques Delors to quote the unfortunate Bretherton of the Board of Trade, the only British observer at Messina in 1955.
1993 N.Y. Times Bk. Rev. 12 Sept. 34/2 As a boy, Jeannot, a dark-skinned noir like the nation's president, is brilliant, quick and charismatic.
21. † c. Of a thing (material or immaterial). Obsolete.
a. Of a person or animal: full of vigour or energy; prompt to do something; acting or able to act without delay. Chiefly predicative, in later use esp. with to-infinitive.In modern use usually with the suggestion or implication of speed and passing into sense A. 22.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > manner of action > rapidity or speed of action or operation > [adjective] > prompt to act
radeOE
yevereOE
snellOE
ratheOE
spacka1200
quickc1300
eagerc1325
readyc1330
tallc1374
smartc1380
desirousc1386
rifec1390
promptc1425
speedy?1504
nimblea1547
present1548
go-ahead1825
the mind > will > wish or inclination > willingness > [adjective] > ready or prompt
radeOE
rekenOE
ratheOE
freshc1175
gradelyc1275
quickc1300
freea1393
readya1425
promptc1425
forward1523
forwards1598
cheerful1600
alacritous1821
up to ——1849
c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) 1348 (MED) With þe wende shulen he yerne..Þou maght til he aren quike.
?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) (1996) i. l. 15618 Þe smote togider bitterlike þat ilk side fond oþer quike.
c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1920) 624 (MED) He hyȝed to Sare, Comaunded hir to be cof and quyk at þis onez.
R. Misyn tr. R. Rolle Mending of Life 118 So þat qwen þa rise to pray, þa be qwhickar þen þai before were.
c1475 tr. C. de Pisan Livre du Corps de Policie (Cambr.) (1977) 113 (MED) Noble and excellent prynces..shulde be the mor quykke and mor strong in their laboures aftirwarde.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Ezra vii. 6 Ezdras..was a quycke scrybe in the lawe of Moses.
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry IV f. xxxiiv This kyng was..formally compact, quicke and deliuer & of a stout courage.
1567 E. Hake tr. Thomas à Kempis Imitation of Christ iii. iii. f. 61v Therfore be thou ashamed thou slow and complayning seruant, bicause they are more readie and quicke vnto destruction, than thou art vnto lyfe.
1570 T. Tusser Hundreth Good Pointes Husbandry (new ed.) f. 32 Launders and millers be quicke of their toll.
1600 W. Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream iii. ii. 343 Your hands, than mine, are quicker for a fray. View more context for this quotation
1611 Bible (King James) Ecclus. xxxi. 22 In all thy workes bee quicke . View more context for this quotation
1642 T. Fuller Holy State ii. i. 51 Others that are so quick in searching, seldome search to the quick.
1650 S. Clarke Marrow Eccl. Hist. (1654) i. 45 He was wondrous quick to explicate obscure passages.
a1715 Bp. G. Burnet Hist. Own Time (1724) I. 382 Seimour..was a graceful man, bold and quick.
1748 B. Robins & R. Walter Voy. round World by Anson (ed. 4) iii. viii. 497 The whole crew..were..quick in loading, all of them good marksmen.
1762 T. Smollett et al. tr. Voltaire Wks. X. 209 In man, the mind is strong; when age prevails, And the quick vigour of each member fails, The mind's pow'rs too decrease, and waste apace.
1796 S. T. Coleridge Destiny of Nations 137 She was quick to mark The good and evil thing, in human love Undisciplined.
1816 Ld. Byron Childe Harold: Canto III xlii. 24 Quiet to quick bosoms is a hell.
1850 Ld. Tennyson In Memoriam xxxiii. 52 Her hands are quicker unto good. View more context for this quotation
1859 Ld. Tennyson Elaine in Idylls of King 210 It may be, I am quicker of belief.
1868 J. C. Atkinson Gloss. Cleveland Dial. 573 ‘T' wickest young chap at ivver Ah seen;’ of a young man full to overflowing of animal life and spirits.
1909 Athenæum 27 Mar. 379/1 The last..have been quick to adopt the use of the solidus or slanting line instead of the horizontal bar in writing fractions.
1915 D. H. Lawrence Rainbow vi. 137 They were both very quick and alive, lit up from the other-world.
1954 W. Mayer-Gross et al. Clin. Psychiatry v. 196 Hypomanics are realistic, quick to grasp opportunities, versatile and often rather superficial.
1994 Dog World June 161/1 Wire Fox Terrier..should be alert, quick of movement, keen of expression, on the tiptoe of expectation at the slightest provocation.
b. Of a quality in a person or animal.
ΚΠ
a1425 J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1869) I. 109 (MED) Crist fastide fourty daies..and he was in quyke age and listide wel to ete.
1535 W. Stewart tr. H. Boethius Bk. Cron. Scotl. (1858) I. 12 Thair curage..that tyme wes so quik.
c1580 Sir P. Sidney tr. Psalmes David xxxiii. xi Of quick strength is an horse.
1612 G. Paule Life Whitgift §138. 93 For his small timber, he was of a good quicke strength, straight and well shaped.
a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) Northampt. 300 He was a good Patriot, of a quick and clear spirit.
1732 D. Neal Hist. Puritans I. 342 He was a little man, of a quick spirit.
1788 C. Smith Emmeline I. xiv. 257 His quick spirit seizing with avidity on an idea so flattering, converted into a confirmation of it all Lord Montreville's discourse for the remainder of the visit.
1819 P. B. Shelley Cenci i. iii. 19 The resolution of quick youth Within my veins.
1872 ‘G. Eliot’ Middlemarch III. vi. lxi. 361 He answered..speaking with quick defiantness.
1904 H. A. Johnston Sci. Faith 34 Unless a man is ready to follow the light with the quick courage of conviction, he is a slave to some sort of selfish fear.
1987 M. Hamburger tr. J. W. von Goethe Torquato Tasso iii. ii, in Verse Plays & Epic 96 That one so tested could relapse into The suddenness of quick youth.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > manner of action > rapidity or speed of action or operation > [adjective] > operating quickly and strongly
quick1545
rash1600
quick-acting1855
1545 R. Ascham Toxophilus ii. f. 7v So that he [sc. a bow] be..quycke and spedye ynoughe for farre castynge.
1551 R. Robinson tr. T. More Vtopia sig. Iiiiv They..finde spedy and quicke remedies for present fautes.
1599 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet v. iii. 120 O true Appothecary: Thy drugs are quicke . View more context for this quotation
1699 Pennsylvania Arch. I. 127 I am obliged for thy quick Care about ye Wine.
1820 P. B. Shelley Vision of Sea in Prometheus Unbound 176 A lead-colour'd fog..Whose breath was quick pestilence.
1882 J. H. Blunt Reformation Church of Eng. II. 190 So quick was justice in overtaking the rebels.
1883 W. S. Gresley Gloss. Terms Coal Mining (at cited word) Blasting powder is said to be quick when it burns or goes off very rapidly.
22.
a. Moving, or able to move, with speed; swift; doing something swiftly or in a short time.In quot. a1398: (of a root) fast-growing. [Apparently attested earlier as an element in a byname: Willemot Quikeuot, apparently lit. ‘quickfoot’ (c1125).]
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > rate of motion > swiftness > [adjective]
swiftc888
swifta1050
currentc1300
quickc1300
hastivea1325
hastyc1330
ingnel1340
swiftyc1380
speedfula1387
fasta1400
swippingc1420
speedy1487
fleet1528
tite?a1540
scudding1545
flighty1552
suddenly1556
flight1581
feathered1587
Pegasean1590
wing-footed1591
swift-winged?1592
thought-swift-flying1595
wind-winged?1596
swallow-winged1597
Pegasarian1607
skelping1607
rapid1608
night-swifta1616
celerious1632
clipping1635
perniciousa1656
volatile1655
quick-foot1658
meteorous1667
windy1697
high-flying1710
fleet-footed1726
aliped1727
wickc1760
velocious1775
flight-performing1785
fast-going1800
fast-moving1802
meteor1803
wight-wapping1830
fleety1841
speeding1847
swiftening1848
two-forty1855
fire-swift1865
pennate1870
spinning1882
percursory1884
zippy1889
meteoric1895
pacy1906
presto1952
c1300 St. Leonard (Laud) 60 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 458 ‘Ne kepe ich,’ quath seint leonard, ‘nouȝht more of þe i-bide Bote þat ich may in one niȝhte with min Asse ouer-ride;’ ‘Ich graunti it þe,’ seide þe king..‘Þei heo were quickore þane ani best.’
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 9327 (MED) He is..Slou to fiȝte & quic to fle.
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 219 Reed haþ a quyk roote [L. radicem..viuacem], and so if þe reed is kuytte, þanne groweþ oþer.
tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) iv. 872 (MED) Yf they [sc. colts] be goode, as myche is forte se As is biforn wel seid of their parentis—Quyk, swift, and stiryng with hillarite.
?a1475 Ludus Coventriae (1922) 279 I am as whyt [= whyk] as thought.
a1529 J. Skelton Tunnyng of Elynour Rummyng in Certayne Bks. (?1545) 337 Her tonge was verye quycke, But she spake somwhat thycke.
1593 G. Peele Famous Chron. King Edward the First sig. B1v Twil come by leasurs daughter then I feare, Th'art too fine fingard to be quick at worke.
1608 W. Shakespeare King Lear xxi. 33 The most terrible and nimble stroke Of quick crosse lightning. View more context for this quotation
a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry V (1623) v. i. 79 Ile..something leane to Cut-purse of quicke hand. View more context for this quotation
a1637 B. Jonson Tale of Tub i. vi. 19 in Wks. (1640) III Pol. I am gone. Lad. Be quick then. View more context for this quotation
1714 R. Smith Poems 61 Athols Souldiers,..Quick, Swift, well hearted & most prompt in hands.
1730 J. Thomson Autumn in Seasons 151 The quick dice..leaping from the box.
1821 P. B. Shelley Epipsychidion 28 The young stars glance Between the quick bats in their twilight dance.
1841 C. Dickens Barnaby Rudge x. 292 [He] is..quick of foot.
1861 G. W. Thornbury Brit. Artists I. 247 The quick lizard is already out.
1893 W. L. Murdoch Cricket 54 A quick, wristy throw.
1946 A. Christie Hollow x. 90 He turned sharply, a man very quick in his reactions. But he was not quick enough. His eyes widened in surprise, but there was no time for him to make a sound.
1954 R. Dahl Someone like You 59 With a quick right hand, so quick he never even saw it coming, she smacked him hard across the front of the face.
1992 Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat & Chron. 13 Nov. d1/1 ‘I'm down because I want to be quick and I want to have a lot of movement,’ Holyfield said at the official weigh-in.
b. Cricket. Of bowling: delivered at speed. Also of a bowler: fast. Cf. sense B. 8.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > cricket > bowling > [adjective] > manner of bowling
straight-arm1807
straight-armed1827
round-arm1835
round hand1847
underhand1850
round-armed1854
wristy1867
fast-medium1873
under-arm1877
quick1899
windmill1900
body line1932
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > cricket > cricketer > [adjective] > types of bowler
straight-armed1827
round1831
round-arm1835
lobbing1840
underhand1848
skimming1851
right arm1877
fastish1884
quick1922
quickish1939
off-spinning1955
stock bowling1976
1899 Times 23 Aug. 5/3 The quick bowling seemed to be most relished.
1922 Times 23 Aug. 6/5 Sandham was out to an ordinary slip catch off a quick bowler.
1956 Times 16 Mar. 14/5 It was not a worthwhile risk sending the England side away so transparently short of quick bowling.
1976 J. Snow Cricket Rebel 36 I was not fast enough to be classed as a genuine quick bowler.
1994 I. Botham My Autobiogr. xiv. 264 Dennis Lillee.., for my money, was the best of them all. I find it very hard to believe there has been a more complete quick bowler.
2006 N.Z. Herald (Nexis) 17 Dec. His futile 43-ball graft for just six runs ended when Malinga, in a great spell of quick bowling, ripped one through his defences.
23. Of movement: rapid, swift; (of a succession or sequence of objects, events, etc.) rapidly moving or occurring.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > rate of motion > swiftness > [adjective] > specifically of movement or action
radeOE
swifta1050
smarta1325
quickc1325
round1525
main1567
rapid1605
slashing1824
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 4544 He sywede after þe traytour mid wel quic [a1400 Trin. Cambr. v.r. ryȝt good] pas.
1592 A. Fraunce 3rd Pt. Countesse of Pembrokes Yuychurch f. 9 v Iapetus is nothing els (saith Proclus) but the most quick motion of heauen.
1602 T. Middleton in C. M. Ingleby & L. T. Smith Shakespeare's Cent. Prayse (1879) 51 To keep quick time unto the owl.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) iv. i. 39 Incite them to quicke motion. View more context for this quotation
1632 W. Lithgow Totall Disc. Trav. vi. 298 The Dromidory hath a quicke and hard-reaching trot.
1655 T. Stanley Hist. Philos. I. iii. 11 The body, which is continually in quick motion, is..called æther.
1759 S. Johnson Prince of Abissinia I. xi. 39 There may be danger of too quick descent.
1771 ‘Junius’ Stat Nominis Umbra (1772) II. lix. 273 There is a quick succession of subjects.
1819 A. Rees Cycl. XXI. at Machinery Circular saw-spindles are frequently burnt..their motion being very quick.
1835 H. Evans in Mississippi Valley Hist. Rev. (1927) 14 213 Distinctly..the resound of guns was heard in quick succession.
1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps ii. xxvii. 384 The quicker flow of the centre causes this structure to bend.
1904 F. W. Hutton & J. Drummond Animals N.Z. ii. 91 The New Zealand Canary has a sharp, strident call, and its movements are quick and active.
1923 Proc. Musical Assoc. 1922–3 88 Schumann's ‘Nussbaum’ has very difficult double rhymes..in quick sequence.
1956 Systematic Zool. 5 169/1 Some functional advantages of metameric arrangement, connected with the necessity of quick movement in a narrow tube.
1976 K. Reddick Horses 150 Rack , a fast four-beat gait in which each foot is brought down singly in quick succession.
1995 FHM Sept. 75/2 I tense visibly every time we take any sudden dives, hating that stomach-sucking feeling of quick descent.
24. Keenly perceptive; capable of ready perception, alert.
a. Of a sense organ, esp. the eye or ear.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > sense organ > [adjective] > responsive
quickc1395
sentient1822
c1395 G. Chaucer Squire's Tale 195 It so heigh was and so brood and long..Ther with so horsly and so quyk of eye As it a gentil Poyleys [v.rr. poleis, Poilleys, poylers] courser were.
tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) viii. 126 Digestioun hit macth and eyon quyk [L. acumen praestabit oculorum].
?c1450 tr. Bk. Knight of La Tour Landry (1906) 18 (MED) She..hadd a quicke yee and a light.
1557 Earl of Surrey et al. Songes & Sonettes sig. T.iiv The Faulcon so quicke of eye.
1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene i. ii. sig. B6v Busying his quicke eies, her face to view.
1599 T. Moffett Silkewormes 62 Neither shall you see the bottome moue, Nor any noyse perceiue with quickest eare.
1644 W. Barton Bk. Psalms xxxi. 54 O down to me thy quick ear bow.
a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) Somerset 29 They have a quicker Palate than I, who can make any such discovery.
1683 Whip for Devil 4 The Devil cannot endure so much as the smell of Humility. What sort of smell humility has, I cannot so well tell; but the Devil has, it seems, a very quick Nose.
a1696 J. Aubrey Brief Lives (1898) I. 411 His eie full and popping, and not quick; a grey eie.
1711 E. Ward Life Don Quixote II. xxxi. 188 They shew their Love by Fits and Starts;Yet manage e'ery nimble Motion Of their quick Eyes with so much Caution, That neither King or Queen discovers The least Intrigue between the Lovers.
1779 S. Johnson Milton in Pref. Wks. Eng. Poets II. 133 His eyes..must have been once quick.
1799 M. Geisweiler tr. A. von Kotzebue Poverty & Nobleness of Mind iii. v. 99 The girls have quick noses. She must have perceived it was not quite right with my name.
1808 W. Scott Marmion ii. Introd. 64 No more the widow's deafened ear Grows quick, that lady's step to hear.
1819 P. B. Shelley Rosalind & Helen 62 The same lady..With silver locks and quick brown eyes.
1838 J. P. Kennedy Rob of Bowl II. iii. 63 He hasever had a quick nose to scent out a duel.
1891 Strand Mag. 2 512/1 [A] scraping sound struck his quick ear.
1913 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 22 Feb. 26/2 The boy's quick ear caught a stirring in the room behind the closed door.
1970 A. K. Armah Fragments vii. 194 He had quick eyes and he seemed constantly to be working his face into a look of unfrightened determination.
1995 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) Sept. 224/1 She caught the attention of the legendary taste arbiter Diana Vreeland, whose quick eye for talent and acute taste for the exotic were intoxicated by what she called Carolina's ‘bombe style’.
b. Of the senses. Now somewhat archaic.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > physical sensibility > acuteness of physical senses > [adjective]
sharpc1000
quick?1526
subtile1565
acute1641
quick-set1653
keenc1720
?1526 G. Hervet tr. Erasmus De Immensa Dei Misericordia sig. Cviii The camels in greatnes excede the, in swyftnes the tygers, in strength the buls, in colour the swannes, in apparayle pecockes,..in quicke syght ye beast lynx & egles.
a1533 Ld. Berners tr. A. de Guevara Golden Bk. M. Aurelius (1537) xviii. f. 31 He was a great louer of al swete odours. He had a good and a quycke smellynge.
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VI f. cxxx The kynges counsaill, (whiche did not with quicke sight, forese..thynges for to come).
?1593 H. Chettle Kind-harts Dreame sig. C4v Promising sight to the blinde, sound ioyntes to the gowty, steady members to the Paraletike, strong limmes to the lame, quicke hearing to the deafe, sence to the franticke.
1604 E. Grimeston tr. J. de Acosta Nat. & Morall Hist. Indies iv. xxxvii. 309 Those [birds]..have a very quicke sight.
1662 Duchess of Newcastle Female Academy i. ii, in Playes Written 655 He hath a silent tongue, for he never speaks but it is to some purpose also he hath a marvelous quick Scent, to smel out a Rebellion or Treason.
1743 J. Bulkeley & J. Cummins Voy. to South-seas 145 They are exceeding nimble, of an exquisite quick Sight.
1800 H. Davy Res. Nitrous Oxide iv. ii. 508 I..imagined..my..hearing..more than commonly quick.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. v. 618 Several dogs of quick scent were turned out.
1870 D. Rock Textile Fabrics (S. Kensington Mus.) Introd. p. lxxxvii The women, being gifted with such quick feeling of finger, could spin thread from this cotton of more than hair-like fineness.
1914 Z. Grey Light Western Stars xiii. 195 Madeline's quick sight caught the ball as it lined somewhat to the right.
1964 D. Levertov O Taste & See 27 Be ready with quick sight to catch a gleam between the floorboards.
c. Of (a part of) a person or animal with regard to a sense (with of). Now somewhat archaic.
ΚΠ
1612 F. Bacon Ess. (new ed.) 8 The most vitall partes are not the quickest of sence.
a1626 L. Andrewes Serm. (1841) IV. 43 More quick of touch than the rest.
1675 C. Cotton Burlesque upon Burlesque 183 I'me so set round with light, And am withal so quick of sight.
1701 N. Grew Cosmol. Sacra i. v. §6 A Hare, which is very quick of hearing.
1877 A. Sewell Black Beauty i. xix. 90 I might be quiet, for the fever made me very quick of hearing.
2002 J. T. Eschen Analyt. Music Therapy ii. 23 If possible he [sc. the analytical music therapist] is quick of hearing and full of empathy.
25.
a. Hasty, impatient, hot-tempered. Now English regional (Herefordshire) and Irish English (northern).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > anger > irascibility > [adjective] > irascible (of person)
hotOE
wooda1250
hastivec1300
irous1303
hastya1350
angrya1387
melancholiousa1393
quicka1400
irefulc1400
melancholyc1450
turnec1480
iracundiousa1492
passionatea1500
fumish1523
irascible1530
wrothful1535
fierya1540
warm1547
choleric1556
hot at hand1558
waspish1566
incensive1570
bilious1571
splenative1593
hot-livered1599
short1599
spitfire1600
warm-tempered1605
temperless1614
sulphurous1616
angryable1662
huffy1680
hastish1749
peppery1778
quick-tempered1792
inflammable1800
hair-triggered1806
gingery1807
spunky1809
iracund1821
irascid1823
wrathy1828
frenzy1859
gunpowdery1868
gunpowderous1870
tempersome1875
exacerbescent1889
tempery1905
lightningy1906
temperish1925
short-fused1979
a1400 (c1303) R. Mannyng Handlyng Synne (Harl.) 2574 He lyued seþþen many ȝeres, A quyk man, and a feres.
1549 H. Latimer 2nd Serm. before Kynges Maiestie 6th Serm. sig. Xiiii The Byshop was some what quicke wyth theym, and signified that he was muche offended.
1598 W. Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost ii. i. 117 You must not be so quicke . View more context for this quotation
1629 J. Ford Lovers Melancholy ii. 30 Are you so quick? Well, I may chance to cross Your peeuishnesse.
1842 F. Marryat Percival Keene I. xii. 147 He's not very quick in temper.
1887 F. T. Havergal Herefordshire Words 28/1 Quick, hasty tempered.
1953 M. Traynor Eng. Dial. Donegal 223/2 Quick, hot-tempered.
1974 W. Leeds Herefordshire Speech 91 Quick, hasty-tempered.
1996 C. I. Macafee Conc. Ulster Dict. 267/2 Quick, hot-tempered.
b. Of temper, disposition, etc.: easily roused; readily moved to anger or impatience.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > anger > irascibility > [adjective]
pelting1570
short1599
quicka1665
allspicy1840
sputtery1858
a1665 J. Maynard Memento to Young & Old (1669) 56 He was a man naturally of a quick temper.
1727 N. Robinson New Method Treating Consumptions i. vii. 91 The Passions begin to be exasperated, which incline the Patient to a quick hasty Disposition, ever Fault-finding, but never pleas'd with those about him.
1747 S. Richardson Clarissa I. iii. 15 He bore this with a resignation little expected from his natural temper, which is generally reported to be quick and hasty.
1837 B. Disraeli Venetia I. 83 The expressions of a quick and offended temper.
1839 E. Forster Arabian Nights' Entertainm. i. 59/1 The vizier, who was well acquainted with the quick and violent disposition of his sovereign, hastened to obey him.
1883 R. L. Stevenson Treasure Island vi. 46 This gave him a look of some temper, not bad, you would say, but quick and high.
1931 P. S. Buck Good Earth xi. 99 These southerners had tempers which were quick and easily ruffled.
1982 R. Anderson Poacher's Son (1984) xiii. 119 She had all the quick temper of our Ma.
2000 G. Marinovich & J. Silva Bang-Bang Club xiii. 145 Velasco, who is notorious for his quick temper, yelled back, ‘Fuck off, you piece of shit!’
26. Of an action, event, process, etc.: that is done or happens with speed or with little or no delay; esp. that lasts or takes a short time; that is soon finished.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > manner of action > rapidity or speed of action or operation > [adjective]
hiefulc1230
hastyc1330
swift1340
graithfula1400
yedera1400
short1480
speedy1529
expedite1540
quick1548
postingc1553
hasting1566
rushing1694
nimble1707
presto1767
presto change1835
quick-action1887
presto changeo1923
knife-edge1969
light speed1987
the world > time > duration > shortness or brevity in time > swift movement of time > [adjective]
slidinga900
scrithingOE
henwardOE
swifta1225
short livya1325
passing1340
flittingc1374
shadowy1374
temporalc1384
speedfula1400
transitory?c1400
brittlea1425
unabidingc1430
frail?c1450
indurablec1450
scrithel?c1475
caduke1483
transitorious1492
passanta1500
perishinga1500
caducea1513
fugitive?1518
caducal?1548
quick1548
delible1549
flittering1549
undurable?1555
shadowish1561
fleeting1563
vading1566
flightful1571
wanzing1571
transitive1575
slipping1581
diary1583
unlasting1585
never-lasting1588
flit1590
post-like1594
running1598
short-lived1598
short-winded1598
transient1599
unpermanent1607
flashy1609
of a day1612
passable1613
dureless1614
urgenta1616
waxena1616
decayable1617
horary1620
evanid1626
fugitable1628
short-dated1632
fugacious1635
ephemerala1639
impermanent1653
fungous1655
volatile1655
ephemerousa1660
unimmortal1667
timesome1674
while-being1674
of passage1680
journal1685
ephemeron1714
admovent1727
evanescent1728
meteorous1750
deciduous1763
preterient1786
ephemeridal1795
meteorica1802
meteor1803
ephemerean1804
ephemerid1804
evanescing1805
fleeted1810
fleet1812
unenduring1814
unremaining1817
unimmortalized1839
impersistent1849
flighty1850
uneternal1862
caducous1863
diurnal1866
horarious1866
brisk1879
evasive1881
picaresque1959
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VI f. clxix And therfore willed her in so quicke a mischief, to prouide a hasty remedy.
1565 T. Stapleton tr. Bede Hist. Church Eng. v. xv. f. 171 To make quick confession of their sinfull actes and not to take dayes with God.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 1 (1623) v. iii. 8 This speedy and quicke appearance argues proofe Of your accustom'd diligence. View more context for this quotation
1637 J. Milton Comus 10 They..purpos'd quick return.
1637 J. Milton Comus 29 She..Underwent a quicke, immortall change.
1664 in G. Miege Relation of Three Embassies (1669) 277 Give me a quick dispatch one way or other.
1703 Moxon's Mech. Dyalling (ed. 4) in Moxon's Mech. Exercises (new ed.) 346 Helps to a young Dyalist for his more orderly and quick making of Dyals.
a1756 E. Haywood New Present (1771) 263 A quick Way to take Grease out of Woollen Cloth.
1797 Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 305/1 Tambourin,..name of a dance performed on the French stage. The air is lively, and the movements are quick.
1820 P. B. Shelley Prometheus Unbound iii. iii. 109 It feeds the quick growth of the serpent vine.
1821 P. B. Shelley Epipsychidion 28 The pebble-paven shore, Under the quick, faint kisses of the sea Trembles.
1854 E. Ronalds & T. Richardson Knapp's Chem. Technol. (ed. 2) I. 343 A quick process of distillation.
1887 T. Hardy Woodlanders I. ix. 174 The somewhat quicker despatch than usual of the timber-merchant's business that day.
1934 R. Graves I, Claudius xxxiii. 484 Caligula was to be persuaded by Vinicius and Asprenas to leave the theatre at noon for a plunge in the swimming pool and a quick lunch.
1965 I. Murdoch Red & Green vi. 95 Pat had made the quick decision, for which he still felt entirely responsible, to trust her.
1992 Independent 16 Mar. 7/1 There was a rise in the number of quick breaks taken between October and April.
2001 Nat. Health Oct. 19/3 This is a great exercise for shoulders and upper chest toning, with quick results.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > metal > steel > [adjective] > brittle
quick1678
temper-brittle1918
1678 J. Moxon Mech. Exercises I. iii. 55 The Spanish Steel..is too quick (as Workmen call it) that is, too brittle for Springs or Punches.
28. Of a curve, turn, etc.: (originally) pointed rather than rounded (now rare); (now usually) involving a sudden change of direction. Also figurative. Cf. sharp adj. 10c.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > curvature > types of curvature > [adjective] > sharp (of curve)
quick1725
severe1881
stunt1886
1725 W. Halfpenny Art of Sound Building 9 If the Arch is required to be quicker or flatter on the Hanse.
1734 A. Pope Epist. to Visct. Cobham 7 Tho' strong the Bent, yet quick the Turns of mind.
1781 W. Cowper Charity 544 The turns are quick, the polished points surprise.
1793 J. Smeaton Narr. Edystone Lighthouse (ed. 2) §81 A much quicker curve, or sweep of a less Radius.
1827 W. Wordsworth Excursion (rev. ed.) iii, in Poet. Wks. V. 88 A quick turn Through a strait passage of encumberd ground, Proved that such hope was vain.
1858 Skyring's Builders' Prices (ed. 48) 57 Mouldings..circular on plan..quick sweep.
1886 T. Hardy Mayor of Casterbridge I. i. 14 A swallow..which had by chance found its way through an opening into the upper part of the tent, flew to and from quick curves above their heads, causing all eyes to follow it.
1916 O. Lodge Raymond 156 Then he says, sudden curve—a curve—he gives Feda a jerk like going round a quick curve.
1920 B. E. Jones Pract. Woodworker 1325/2 In the case of a very small or ‘quick’ curve, veneer pins should be inserted occasionally.
1943 J. L. Hunt & A. G. Pringle Service Slang 41 Jinks, quick turns in the air, a form of aerobatics and of avoiding action.
2000 D. Teece Managing Intellect. Capital (2002) i. i. 8 The firm must be able to effectively navigate quick turns, as Microsoft did once Gates recognized the importance of the internet.
B. n.1† 5. With the. The living form or exact semblance of something. Chiefly in to the quick. Cf. life n. 7. Obsolete.† 6. Short for quick-mire n. at Compounds 1b. Obsolete. rare.† 7. U.S. Metallurgy. The amalgam of gold and mercury that is formed when gold is extracted with mercury; (also) the mercury itself (cf. quicksilver n. 1). Obsolete. rare. [Compare Dutch kwik mercury (1736), German Quick mercury, a solution of mercury used in gilding, (in compounds) amalgam (1812 or earlier; earlier in Quickarbeit (1778)). Compare quick-water n. at Compounds 1b.]
1. † b. That which is alive. (In Old English and early Middle English in partitive genitive singular as postmodifier.) Obsolete.† c. Livestock. Obsolete. rare.
a. Living people as a class; the living; (also occasionally) a living person.
(a) Without article. Chiefly in quick and dead, echoing Acts 10:42 or the Apostles' Creed. Now rare.
ΚΠ
eOE King Ælfred tr. Gregory Pastoral Care (Hatton) (1871) xv. 97 Ðæm hælendum Criste, se ðe demende is cucum & deadum.
OE Crist III 997 Ðær bið cirm ond cearu, ond cwicra gewin.
c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 10553 Himm iss all þe dom bitahht To demenn cwike & dæde.
a1300 (?OE) Writ of Edward the Confessor (Sawyer 1118) in F. E. Harmer Anglo-Saxon Writs (1952) 341 For alle quiken and for alle dede to helpe.
a1400 (c1303) R. Mannyng Handlyng Synne (Harl.) 10719 (MED) Quyke and dede, more and lesse, Alle are saued þurgh þe masse.
a1425 J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1871) II. 213 Ȝif þis prest shal be dampned, his preier..doiþ more harm to quike and dede.
c1450 Jacob's Well (1900) 65 Paye..to qwyke & to dede, þat þou owyst.
c1480 (a1400) St. Pelagia 96 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) II. 207 Quhen he sal deme Quyk and ded.
1562 T. Cooper Answere Def. Truth f. 6, in Apol. Priuate Masse For then ye applied it vnto highe, to low..to quicke, to deade.
1585 Abp. E. Sandys Serm. iii. 56 That the masse is a sacrifice auaileable for quicke and dead.
1611 Bible (King James) Acts x. 42 It is he which was ordeined of God to be the Iudge of quicke and dead. View more context for this quotation
1650 in S. Ree Rec. Elgin (1908) II. 275 Out of a burne where quik and dead goes over.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost xii. 460 To judge both quick & dead. View more context for this quotation
1729 W. Law Serious Call ii. 22 The judge of quick and dead.
1755 J. Greenhill Ess. Prophecies New Test. 39 Christ shall come in his Glory to judge both quick and dead.
1833 H. Ellison Madmoments I. 324 With Mercy's widespread Arms, alike o'er Quick and Dead! I ask no fabled Muse to aid my Song.
1859 J. M. Neale Liturgies St. Mark p. xi The Anaphoral portion has these four divisions: The great Eucharistic Prayer: The Consecration: The Intercession for quick and dead: and The Communion.
1931 Poetry July 192 The priest, Weary with watching, tense with high desire, Offers for quick and dead The consummating mystery of his faith.
(b) With the. Usually with plural agreement. Contrasted with the dead.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > [noun] > collectively
livingeOE
earthwareeOE
quickeOE
fleshc1000
naturalsa1400
live1565
life1728
eOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Otho) xxxvi. 109 Ne bið se cwuca ðonne [nyttra] ðe [se] deada, gif him his yfel [ne hreowð].
OE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Cambr. Univ. Libr.) i. xi. 50 Ða cwican no genihtsumedon þæt hi ða deadan bebyrigdan.
a1225 (?c1175) Poema Morale (Lamb.) 190 in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 171 (MED) He scal deme þa quike & þa dede.
c1225 Nicene Creed (Junius) in Anglia (1928) 52 5 (MED) He eftð cumeð mid wuldre to deminde þan cwike and þa deaden.
a1250 Apostles' Creed (Blickling) in Mod. Lang. Notes (1899) 4 138 (MED) Þanen he is to cumen for to demen þa quike & þa deade.
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 5877 Me halt euere mid þe quike; þe dede was sone stille.
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) ii. 3405 (MED) He schal reforme..the qwike and dede At thilke woful dai of drede.
?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) (1996) i. 4350 Þe quyk opon þe dede ȝede; opon þe dede þei stode to fight.
a1475 Sidrak & Bokkus (Lansd.) (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Washington) (1965) 3237 (MED) Þerfore shulde men deme þe quike, Riche and pouere, alle ylike.
c1475 (?c1400) Apol. Lollard Doctr. (1842) 49 (MED) What riȝtfulnes is þis, to ȝef ȝeftis to þe dead and spoyle þe quek?
a1555 J. Bradford Two Notable Serm. (1574) sig. Iivv Being peruerted and vsed to a contrary ende, as of sacrificyng propitiatorely for the syns of the quicke and of the dead.
1567 Compend. Bk. Godly Songs (1897) 41 Gif ony to the quick ȝeid from the deide, Trewlie they suld repent.
1631 W. Gouge Gods Three Arrowes i. §70. 117 There was so grievous a mortality of people, as the quicke might unneath burie the dead.
1654 T. Fuller 2 Serm. 55 Such Volumes as concern the Quick at that Day.
1727 D. Defoe Ess. Hist. Apparitions vii. 98 The Dead could never come to the Quick.
1784 H. Adams Alphabet. Compend. Var. Sects 138 That in the mass there is offered unto God a true and propitiatory sacrifice for the quick and dead.
1828 T. Campbell in New Monthly Mag. 23 416 The quick have their sleep-walkers, so have the dead.
1850 J. S. Blackie tr. Æschylus Lyrical Dramas I. 156 He, who was dead, has slain the quick.
1958 W. Plomer At Home xiv. 191 On that day I seem to have been more impressed by the quick than the dead.
1998 Guardian 7 Nov. (Travel section) 19/3 Down there, on a cold day, our guide introduces the quick (in their anoraks) to the dead.
ΚΠ
OE Beowulf (2008) 2314 No ðær aht cwices lað lyftfloga læfan wolde.
OE Ælfric Old Eng. Hexateuch: Gen. (Claud.) viii. 21 Ne ofslea ic heononforð mid wætere ælc þingc cuces [L. omnem animam uiuentem], swa swa ic dyde.
c1230 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Corpus Cambr.) (1962) 171 Þer..is nu þe deade sea, þet nawiht cwikes nis inne.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1978) 12855 Na whit heo ne funden quikes uppen wolden.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > domestic animal > [noun] > livestock
feec900
auchtOE
orfOE
avers1292
storea1300
bestialc1350
cattlea1400
ware1422
quickc1450
goods1472
stock?1523
chattel1627
live goods1635
team1655
creature1662
livestocka1687
living stock1690
farming stock1749
farm animal1805
fat-stock1881
c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) 4469 (MED) Of any gud at ȝe geet a gift ye þam offirre, A quantite of all-quat, of quike & of ellis.
2. A living creature; (in later use) spec. an insect, esp. a maggot. Now English regional (northern).
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > division Vermes > [noun] > member of (worm) > maggot
quickOE
maggot?a1475
OE Paris Psalter (1932) ciii. 24 Mycel sæ,..þær is unrim on ealra cwycra mycelra and mætra.
OE Paris Psalter (1932) cxiii. 8 He [sc. God] wendeð stan on widne mere, and clifu cyrreð on cwicu swylce wæteres wellan.
c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1920) 567 As to quelle alle quykez for qued þat myȝt falle.
1579 E. Spenser Shepheardes Cal. Mar. 74 [I] Might see the moving of some quicke Whose shape appeared not.
1664 H. Power Exper. Philos. i. 34 You shall see these little Quicks..grow feebler in their motion.
1777 Dumfries Weekly Mag. 24 June 4 Ointments for all sorts of wounds, &c...killing quicks or maggots.
1886 R. Holland Gloss. Words County of Chester 390 Wicks, intestinal worms, maggots.
1899 Cumbld. Gloss. Whicks,..maggots.
1903 D. Lawton in Eng. Dial. Dict. IV. 680/1 [Yorks.] That plant is full o' wicks.
3. † c. A tender, sensitive, or vital part. Chiefly in plural. Obsolete.
a. With the. The highly sensitive area of a finger or toe covered by the nail plate; the sensitive structures of the foot of a horse or other ungulate; the proximal, vascular portion of the claw of an animal or bird. Also: any part of a wound, an ulcer, the body, etc., that is sensitive or painful (now rare). Frequently in to the quick. Cf. sense A. 3.In early use also without article in †at quick.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > sense organ > touch organ > [noun] > sensitive part
quick?a1425
liver1889
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > body or parts of horse > [noun] > hoof > joint or sensitive part above
quick?a1425
coffin-joint1683
?a1425 (?1373) Lelamour Herbal (1938) f. 35v (MED) Also hit doþe a-way the blotts a-boue þe nayles in þe quyk.
c1450 in W. R. Dawson Leechbk. (1934) 70 (MED) Payre of the cornes to the whike and ley þeron of this salue.
?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. xxxvv An hurt yt cometh of yll showyng whan a smyth driueth a nayle into the quycke.
1560 J. Heywood Fourth Hundred Epygrams iv. sig. Aiv Ytchyng and smartyng, both towch vs at quicke.
1571 in J. Cranstoun Satirical Poems Reformation (1891) I. xxvi. 168 Fra tyme ye spur and hit him on the quik.
1604 W. Shakespeare Hamlet iv. vii. 96 + 10 But to the quick of th' vlcer, Hamlet comes back.
1610 G. Markham Maister-peece ii. xcvi. 384 A Horse is said to bee cloyed with a naile, or prickt with a naile, when the whole naile is stricken into the quick of the foote.
1726 J. Swift Gulliver I. ii. iii. 64 They would fix upon my Nose or Forehead, where they stung me to the quick.
1767 J. Wesley Jrnl. 1 Nov. (1827) III. 293 Five nails were driven into the quick.
1825 A. Knapp & W. Baldwin Newgate Cal. IV. 350/2 Picking his fingers until he brought blood thro' the quick.
1862 G. A. Sala Seven Sons Mammon I. x. 243 He was in the habit of biting his nails to the quick.
1940 W. Faulkner Hamlet iii. 60 The newcomer darting between Houston and the raised hoof and clapping the shoe onto it and touching the animal's quick with the second blow of the hammer.
1993 Dog World Nov. 13/1 Clip the nail just below this vein, commonly called ‘the quick’, to avoid bleeding and injury to your dog.
b. figurative. The seat of feeling or emotion in a person; the core of a person's being. In later use, chiefly in phrases denoting acute mental anguish or irritation, as to touch (also gall, sting, etc.) to the quick.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > anger > irascibility > touchiness > [noun] > point in respect of which
quicka1529
sore place1690
raw1825
a1529 J. Skelton Magnyfycence (?1530) sig. Eiii Yf a man fortune to touche you on the quyke Then feyne yourselfe dyseased.
1551 R. Robinson tr. T. More Vtopia sig. Ciiii Their tenauntes..whom they polle and shaue to ye quycke by reysing their rentes.
1579 T. North tr. Plutarch Liues 560 Tigranes..was galled to the quicke, and hitte at the harte.
1628 G. Wither Britain's Remembrancer ii. 933 I confesse that on the quick they grated, Who in this manner have expostulated.
1647 J. Trapp Comm. Epist. & Rev. (Rom. ii. 3) This is preaching to the conscience, to the quick.
1722 D. Defoe Moll Flanders 51 This stung the elder Brother to the Quick.
1793 F. Burney Lett. 21 Oct. I could not deeply consider the situation of these venerable men, without feeling for them to the quick.
1842 Ld. Tennyson Walking to Mail in Poems (new ed.) II. 50 A Tory to the quick.
1883 J. A. Froude Short Stud. IV. i. iv. 45 His proud temper was chafed to the quick, and he turned sick with anger.
1935 G. Santayana Last Puritan ii. xii. 203 Damned unfair, too, to my poor father who had made every sacrifice for me, and was cut to the quick.
1961 N. Roy Black Albino 65 The contempt with which the chief treated him in this choice of weapons before all, touched him to the quick.
1989 M. Gordon Other Side ii. iii. 129 ‘The world's a brighter place for you than me,’ Bella had said to Ellen once. Wounding her to the quick.
1997 J. Ryan Dismantling Mr Doyle x. 141 She was hurt to the quick and anxious at all costs not to put words on what had happened.
ΚΠ
1532 T. More Confut. Tyndales Answere i. p. vi [Quoting Tyndale] Tyll he come at the botom, the pyth, the quyck [1532 quycks], the lyfee, the spyryte, the marye, and very cause why.
a1563 J. Bale King Johan (1969) ii. 2003 To dryue hym to holde and searche hym in the quyckes.
1705 R. Wroe in Philos. Trans. 1704–05 (Royal Soc.) 24 1900 There appearing great quicks (as they call them) or Roots under the Nails.
1892 J. Lucas tr. P. Kalm Acct. Visit Eng. 69 They have ready to hand a multitude of the quicks [Sw. qwickan] or inner parts of Ox-horns.
d. In extended use: the central, vital, or most important part of a thing (now esp. something immaterial).
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > existence > intrinsicality or inherence > essence or intrinsic nature > [noun] > vital part or vitalizing influence
pitheOE
sap1526
quicka1566
lifeblood1582
heartstring1584
entelechy1603
heart1603
heart-blood1606
heart and soul1616
heart's-blooda1631
life's bloodc1635
a1566 R. Edwards Damon & Pithias (1571) Prol. sig. Aij In Commedies, the greatest Skyll is this, rightly to touche All thynges to the quicke.
1600 R. Surflet tr. C. Estienne & J. Liébault Maison Rustique iii. xlvi. 516 There is neede to digge trees at the foote in winter vnto the very quick of the earth.
1643 J. Burroughes Expos. Hosea (1652) ix. 314 If things were examined to the quick in our receiving the Sacrament.
1693 J. Evelyn tr. J. de La Quintinie Compl. Gard'ner ii. iv. xii. 19 The Tree..must be refresh'd as far as the quick.
1791 H. More Estimate Relig. Fashionable World 49 The prevailing mode of living has pared real hospitality to the very quick.
1838 W. Howitt Rural Life Eng. II. iii. i. 129 It is existence shorn of all its spreading and flowering branches, but not pared to the quick.
1876 ‘G. Eliot’ Daniel Deronda IV. vii. li. 37 The point touched the quick of his experience.
1920 D. H. Lawrence Women in Love xxix. 466 He wanted her to touch the quick of his being, he wanted that most of all.
1980 M. Robinson Housekeeping x. 201 Sylvie flushed in the firelight, prodding her whole hoard into the quick of the fire, even the National Geographic with a fold-out picture of the Taj Mahal.
1996 W. Hutton State we're In (rev. ed.) viii. 217 The extension of the market has gone well beyond the formal institutions of the welfare state. It now extends into the very quick of society.
4. † c. A hedge made of living plants, esp. hawthorn (cf. sense A. 4b). Obsolete. rare.
a. As a mass noun (occasionally with plural agreement): living hedging plants, esp. hawthorns, esp. as young plants, cuttings, or seedlings. Cf. quickset n.1 1b. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > gardening > management of plants > propagation of plants > [noun] > by cuttings > cutting or slip
planteOE
plantingeOE
quickwoodc1383
graffa1393
sarmenta1398
slivingc1400
springc1400
clavec1420
sleavingc1440
talionc1440
quick1456
quicking1469
graft1483
quickset1484
slip1495
setlingc1503
set1513
pitchset1519
slaving?1523
truncheon1572
stallon1587
crosset1600
marquot1600
sliver1604
secta1616
offset1629
slipping1638
side-slip1651
slift1657
cutting1691
pitcher1707
mallet-shoot1745
root cutting1784
stowing1788
stool1789
pitch1808
heel1822
cutling1834
piping1851
cutback1897
stump plant1953
the world > plants > by growth or development > defined by habit > tree or woody plant > wood or assemblage of trees or shrubs > [noun] > planted, cultivated, or valued > hedge or hedgerow > of living plants > plant forming > collectively
quickwoodc1383
quick1456
quicking1469
quickset1484
quickfrith1536
1456–7 in J. T. Fowler Extracts Acct. Rolls Abbey of Durham (1898) I. 241 (MED) Pro factura unius fosse et insercione de lez whyke.
1484–5 in J. T. Fowler Extracts Acct. Rolls Abbey of Durham (1898) I. 98 Pro ccma qweke et plantacione ejusdem.
1652 W. Blith Eng. Improver Improved xxiv. 156 If thou hast any quantity of space, betwixt thy two upper Rowes of Quick, thou mayst plant one Row upon the Top.
1686 R. Blome Gentlemans Recreation vi. xi. 252 The common way to plant Quick is on the Bank, and a Hedge on the Top.
1725 R. Bradley Chomel's Dictionaire Œconomique at Quickset The same Method is used in planting all Sorts of Quick..except the Alder, Elder, Furz, and Holly.
1764 Museum Rusticum (1765) 3 lxiii. 285 I keep the quick regularly clipped, which, in a few years, renders the fence impenetrable.
1797 J. Billingsley Gen. View Agric. Somerset vi. 83 In many counties it is the custom to plant the quick in the face of the bank, and where wood for fencing is scarce.
1818 E. Smedley Religio Clerici 25 Hedges of living quick, a yew alcove.
1881 Gardeners' Chron. 26 Mar. 409 Planting two hollies and six quick in every yard.
1901 Oxf. Chron. Feb. 1 Quick, quick, quick for hedgerows—1,000,000 for sale.
1974 W. Leeds Herefordshire Speech 91 Quick, young hawthorn.
b. As a count noun: a single hedging plant, esp. a hawthorn, esp. as a young plant, cutting, or seedling. Cf. quickset n.1 1a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > by growth or development > defined by habit > tree or woody plant > wood or assemblage of trees or shrubs > [noun] > planted, cultivated, or valued > hedge or hedgerow > of living plants > plant forming
quickseta1450
quick1507
1507–8 in J. T. Fowler Extracts Acct. Rolls Abbey of Durham (1901) III. 660 Et sol..sepientibus cum lez Wykkes..querend. le Whikkes.
1671 in J. Barmby Churchwardens' Accts. Pittington (1888) 202 For quickes, 5s. 8d.
a1735 Earl of Haddington Short Treat. Forest-trees 40 in J. G. Reid Scots Gardiner (1756) Upon this I laid another turf..and a row of Thorns, or Quicks.
1792 Trans. Soc. Arts (ed. 2) 3 173 Quicks thus planted will at an early age, form a fence.
1823 G. Stephenson Let. 16 Jan. in G. Stephenson Engineer & Let. (1973) i. 59 We expect wall fencing to come as cheap as quicks, which is much better as the quicks are so long before they become a fence.
a1849 J. Keegan Legends & Poems (1907) 79 Notwithstanding its great age it [sc. the hawthorn] appears as healthy and vigourous as if it were but a ‘quick’.
1883 Specif. Alnwick & Cornhill Railway 19 A mound of 1 foot high and 2 feet 6 inches wide is to be formed of soil, and a row of good quicks not less than three years transplanted.
1920 W. H. R. Curtler Enclosure & Redistribution Land xiv. 166 A mound five feet high with a row of quicks on top, and on each side willow stakes bound together.
1987 Times 24 Jan. 13/4 We planted quicks (hawthorn seedlings) to fill gaps in the hedges.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > closed or shut condition > that which or one who closes or shuts > a barrier > [noun] > hedge or fence > a hedge > live hedge
quickc1660
live fence?1740
live fencing1829
c1660 J. Evelyn Diary anno 1641 (1955) II. 60 The Counterscarp is..curiously hedg'd with a quick.
d. A hawthorn used for hedging, esp. Crataegus monogyna or C. laevigata. Cf. sense A. 4a, quickthorn n. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > thorny berry-bush > [noun] > hawthorn and allies
hawthorna700
hawthorn-treec1290
whitethorna1300
haw-treec1325
albespyne?a1425
thorn-tree1483
mespilus1548
may-branch1560
quickthorn1571
hedge-bush1576
busket1579
May-bush1579
Neapolitan medlar1597
azarole1658
pyracanth1664
white bush1676
Glastonbury thorna1697
quick1727
evergreen thorn1731
blackthorn1737
whitethorn1788
oriental medlar1797
haw1821
May-haw1840
Maythorn1844
May1848
pear thorn1848
pink thorn1852
aronia thorn1882
scarlet thorn1882
black haw1897
1727 R. Bradley Compl. Bk. Husband. 139 If we draw quick or whitethorn, with this instrument, we must observe to fix our hooks as near the top of the plant as possible.
1778 J. Abercrombie Universal Gardener & Botanist at Cratægus Some of the strongest of the quick or Hawthorn seedlings will be proper sets to plant immediately for a hedge.
1877 Globe Encycl. III. 368/1 When designed as outside fences, hawthorn or quick, is most frequently used.
1938 Times 1 Feb. 60/3 Hawthorn, or quick, beyond doubt the most satisfactory plant for fences, is very long lived.
1996 R. Mabey Flora Britannica 209/2 Hawthorn or May-tree, Crataegus monogyna (VN: White-may, Whitethorn, Thorn-bush, Quick, Quickthorn, [etc.]).
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > relationship > similarity > [adverb] > closely (of resemblance) > with lifelike representation
livelyc1405
livinglyc1475
quickly1477
to the quick1531
livelily?1565
to the life1604
naively1640
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > representation in art > [adverb] > realistic
to the quick1531
1531 J. Bellenden tr. H. Boece Hist. & Chron. Scotl. (1941) II. 461 He commandit ane paintour..to paint hir visage to the quik.
a1533 Ld. Berners tr. A. de Guevara Golden Bk. M. Aurelius (1537) xlviii. f. 93 In the principall of the sayd table was pictured a Bulle subtylly wroughte to the quycke, and vnder that a kynge was pyctured.
1563 J. Man tr. W. Musculus Common Places Christian Relig. 43 Images..with maruelouse deuice set forth to the quicke.
1699 A. Boyer Royal Dict. (at cited word) To draw to the quick, (or to the life).
1861 J. Brown Horæ Subsecivæ 2nd Ser. 227 I think I have only to sit down and write it [sc. my father's life] off, and do it to the quick.
1880 G. Meredith Tragic Comedians I. vi. 118 Our blood runs through it, our history in the quick.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > landscape > marsh, bog, or swamp > [noun] > quaking bog
mizzyc1400
quawa1500
quick-mire1509
quavemire1530
quallmire1553
quamire1555
quagmire1566
quakemire1577
gog-mire1583
quag1589
quabmire1597
quadmire1610
bog-mire1624
bumby1632
quick1648
trembling bog1697
shake-bog1815
quake1896
1648 W. Sancroft in H. Cary Memorials Great Civil War (1842) II. 40 I am here in Sloughland, in the midst of quicks and quagmires.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > metal > base metal > [noun] > mercury
quicksilvereOE
mercuryc1395
argent-vive1453
hydrargyrum1563
silver1607
spirit1661
quick1852
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > metal > alloy > [noun] > mercury alloys or amalgam
argenture1576
magnesia1651
amalgam1665
philosophers' tree1692
philosophical tree1703
quick1852
native amalgam1875
1852 F. Overman Treat. Metall. iii. viii. 710 The fluid amalgam is pressed through a soft leather..to remove the superfluous mercury; after which a solid amalgam, called quick, remains in the bag.
1882 Rep. Precious Metals (U.S. Bureau of Mint) 651 From this groove the amalgam and quicksilver run in gas-pipes to the securely-locked ‘amalgam safes’, in which the surplus ‘quick’ is strained off.
8. Cricket. A fast bowler. Frequently in plural. Cf. sense A. 22b.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > cricket > cricketer > [noun] > bowler > types of bowler
slow bowler1823
fast bowler1828
bias bowler1854
round-arm1858
demon bowler1861
left-hander1864
chucker1882
lobster1889
slow1895
leg-breaker1904
speed merchant1913
leg-spinner1920
spin bowler1920
off-spinner1924
quickie1934
tweaker1935
swerve-bowler1944
pace bowler1947
seam bowler1948
spinner1951
seamer1952
wrist-spinner1957
outswinger1958
swing bowler1958
quick1960
stock bowler1968
paceman1972
leggy1979
1960 I. Peebles Bowler's Turn 63 He was a fine player of every type of bowling, fast of foot against spin, and strong and resolute against the quicks.
1977 World of Cricket Monthly June 66/3 He..still considers Lindwall the greatest of quicks he faced.
1995 Sun 25 July 30/2 Let us hope he has the stomach to handle the Caribbean quicks who caused such havoc in the Third Test at Edgbaston.
C. adv.
1.
a. Rapidly, at a fast rate; (also) without delay, at once; = quickly adv. 2. See also get-rich-quick adj., kiss-me-quick n., PDQ n. at P n. Initialisms.Except in compounds (see Compounds 2a, Compounds 2b), now usually considered less formal than quickly, and found chiefly in informal or colloquial contexts, often in standard constructions (see senses C. 1b, C. 2).
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > rate of motion > swiftness > [adverb]
yeverlyeOE
cofeOE
snellya1000
whatlichea1000
swiftlyc1000
yernea1023
skeetc1175
swithc1175
whatec1175
lightly?c1225
tidelyc1225
fastlyc1275
swithc1275
fastc1300
quickc1300
titec1300
quicklya1325
rada1325
snellc1330
titelyc1330
swithly?1370
hastlya1375
ketlya1375
ketec1380
speedlyc1380
speedfully1398
keenlya1400
skeetlya1400
speedilya1400
swiftc1400
yederlyc1400
apacea1423
rasha1475
runninglyc1475
speedful?c1480
rackly?a1500
rashly1533
stiffly1535
roundly1548
post1549
fleet1587
fleetly1598
speedy1601
raptly1646
fastisha1650
wingedly1651
rapidly1653
rapid1677
velociously1680
express1765
quicklike1782
spankingly1803
spankily1842
fleetingly1883
quick-foot1891
on the quick-foot1894
zippily1924
c1300 St. Michael (Laud) 502 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 314 (MED) Is soule..hath Aungles cuynde And mai beo nouþe here and þer ase quik ase mannes muynde.
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 1647 (MED) To þe pope Eleuthery hasteliche hii wende Þat he quic in to is lond cristendom him sende.
?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) ii. 79 (MED) Comen is William quik & sekes þam fulle streit.
c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. xiv. 189 (MED) He shulde take þe acquitance as quik and to þe qued schewe it.
c1450 (a1400) Libeaus Desconus (Calig. A.ii) (1969) 1846 (MED) Quyk [a1500 Lamb. titely] he rod hem tyll.
a1529 J. Skelton Tunnyng of Elynour Rummyng in Certayne Bks. (?1545) 206 This ale shal be thycker, And flowre the more quicker.
1545 R. Ascham Toxophilus ii. f. 19v Nature..made the rayne droppes rounde for quicke percynge the ayre.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) v. i. 308 Such discourse, as..shall make it [sc. the night] Goe quicke away. View more context for this quotation
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost iv. 1004 The latter quick up flew, and kickt the beam. View more context for this quotation
1692 J. Locke Some Thoughts conc. Educ. §160 Any..Person who writes well, and quick.
1697 J. Vanbrugh Relapse iii. 59 And if it was not shifting-day, let her put on a clean Tucker quick.
1727 A. Pope et al. Περι Βαθους: Art of Sinking 70 in J. Swift et al. Misc.: Last Vol. Bring forth some Remnant of Promethean Theft, Quick to expand th' inclement Air congeal'd By Boreas's rude Breath.
1748 Ld. Chesterfield Let. 1 Apr. (1932) (modernized text) III. 1131 I am told that you speak very quick.
1788 C. Smith Emmeline IV. vi. 124 I am going..to Havre; whence I shall get the quickest to Southampton.
1841 C. Dickens Barnaby Rudge x. 292 The person who'd go quickest, is a sort of natural.
1865 Ld. Tennyson On a Mourner iii Nature..on thy heart a finger lays, Saying ‘Beat quicker’.
1874 J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People ii. §6. 88 A peaceful invasion..followed quick on the conquest of the Norman soldiery.
1901 M. Franklin My Brilliant Career xxxii. 272 Lizer, shut the winder quick.
1936 C. Sandburg People, Yes 83 Some men dress quick, others take as much time as a woman.
1968 Listener 11 July 38/3 I've never known a journey go so quick.
1996 R. Mistry Fine Balance (1997) iii. 104 Oiee, my husband! Come quick!
b. In similative phrases, as (as) quick as lightning, (as) quick as thought, (as) quick as a wink, (as) quick as a flash, etc.Phrases are generally recorded earlier with quick as an adjective; see, e.g., quot. ?a1475 at sense A. 22a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > rate of motion > swiftness > swiftly [phrase] > very swiftly
as swift (also quick, fleet) as thought?c1225
like lightning1567
(as) quick as lightning1580
like wildfire1699
like stour1787
(as) quick as a wink1825
like smoke1832
quick as a streak1839
like sixty1848
(as) quick as thought1871
at a great lick1898
like a bat out of hell1921
like the clappers1948
like a bomb1954
1580 T. Churchyard Pleasaunte Laborinth: Churchyardes Chance f. 35 The noble minde that scornes to stoupe, at base and wretched things, As quicke as thought, mountes vp the Skies.
1638 J. Taylor Bull, Beare, & Horse sig. E3v Quicke as lightning, his will trace and track, Making that endlesse round his Zodiacke.
1691 J. Harris Mistakes v. i. 62 Alb. Run and conduct him to me, fly quickly. Lop. As quick as lightning; Sir.
1722 tr. G. de Courtilz de Sandras Unfortunate Marriage 162 The Fire pierces as quick as lightning into the heart.
a1785 J. W. Fletcher Posthumous Pieces (1791) 276 If bodies could move as quick as thought, they would be importuned frequently with my company.
1813 W. Scott Rokeby i. 28 Thoughts..Glance quick as lightning through the heart.
1825 J. Neal Brother Jonathan I. 111 Fire away as quick as wink.
1871 B. Taylor tr. J. W. von Goethe Faust II. i. ii. 10 As quick as thought..Him to replace there came another.
1881 Scribner's Monthly 22 108/2 Quick as thought, Roger slipped his hands from their..noose.
1893 W. Forbes-Mitchell Reminisc. Great Mutiny 88 Quick as thought I..clasped it.
1926 J. F. Dobie Rainbow in Morning 89 As quick as a wink; as quick as a flash.
1954 I. Murdoch Under Net xviii. 245 Quick as a flash, I put one hand into the opening and sprang.
1997 Total Film Sept. 8/5 Then, quick as a flash, Phil Collins' ho-hum Buster (featuring actors from 1988 wearing 1963 clobber) arrives.
2. As an imperative: ‘be quick!’. See also quick march int.In some cases perhaps representing the adjective in the phrase be quick! (cf. quot. a1637 at sense A. 22a).
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > rate of motion > swiftness > quick [interjection]
quick1593
fludgs1611
yarea1616
zest1705
1593 J. Eliot Ortho-epia Gallica xiv. 105 Yeeld thy purse: quicke, quicke, dispatch, yeeld, alight, or I will shoote this bullet into thy belly.
1600 W. Shakespeare Merchant of Venice ii. ix. 1 Quick, quick I pray thee, draw the curtain strait.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1622) v. i. 3 Quicke, quicke, feare nothing, I'le be at thy elboe. View more context for this quotation
1690 J. Dryden Don Sebastian i. i. 17 To your paces Villain, amble, trot, and gallop:—Quick, about there.—Yeap.
1713 J. Addison Cato iii. i. 36 Quick, let us part!
1781 M. P. Andrews Baron Kinkvervankotsdorsprakingatchdern ii. 38 Quick with that supper.
a1822 P. B. Shelley tr. P. Calderon Scenes from Magico Prodigioso in Posthumous Poems (1824) 391 Livia, quick bring my cloak.
1852 H. B. Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin I. v. 62 Get on your clothes, old man, quick!
1872 Ld. Tennyson Gareth & Lynette 11 Nay—quick! the proof to prove me.
1926 J. Buchan Dancing Floor (1976) xvii. 203 Get us some food, too, for we're starving. Quick, man.
1977 Transatlantic Rev. No. 60. 156 ‘Turn out yer lights’—he yelled, ‘Quick!’ He grabbed our documents, shaking with fear.
2006 F. Kiernan & G. Hemphill Still Game: Scripts I. iv. 106 Victor! C'mere tae ye see this! Quick! It's nearly away!
Compounds
C1. Compounds of the adjective.
a. Parasynthetic.See also quick-eyed adj., quick-sighted adj., quick-witted adj.† quick-answered adj. Obsolete† quick-chapped adj. Obsolete† quick-sensedness n. Obsolete† quick-sprighted adj. Obsolete
ΚΠ
a1616 W. Shakespeare Cymbeline (1623) iii. iv. 159 Ready in gybes, quicke-answer'd, sawcie. View more context for this quotation
ΚΠ
1598 E. Guilpin Skialetheia v. sig. D7 Here his wife's bated by some quick-chapt youth.
quick-eared adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > type or quality of hearing > [adjective] > good hearing > having
quick-eared1609
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > type or quality of hearing > [adjective] > good hearing > discriminating
quick-eared1609
nice-eareda1843
tender-eared1911
1609 T. Heywood Troia Britanica xiii. 343 About her Coach the Quicke-ear'd Dolphins play.
1771 E. Griffith Hist. Lady Barton I. 118 They are..quick-eared as the mole.
1835 W. Wordsworth Yarrow Revisited 172 Whatever discipline thy Will ordain For the brief course that must for me remain; Teach me with quick-eared spirit to rejoice In admonitions of thy softest voice!
1865 E. Donoghue Stray Leaves 160 ‘Do, mother, do,’ said the two quick-eared little girls.
1920 D. H. Lawrence Lost Girl viii. 182 He turned like a quick-eared animal.
1999 Artibus Asiae 58 319 In temples, Mazu is invariably flanked by her Two Generals: quick-eared Shunfeng er,..and hawk-eyed Qianli yan.
quick-fingered adj.
ΚΠ
1607 T. Tomkis Lingua iii. iii. sig. F How now Inuention, are you so quick fingred?
a1631 G. Harvey Marginalia (1913) 194 A liuely quickfingerid, and quickfootid slaue from his Moothers lapp.
1862 Sir W. H. Holmes Technologist II. 244 The more quick fingered women..came bending along under the weight of 100lb. or more of cotton.
2000 A. Ghosh Glass Palace (2001) vi. 69 Quick-fingered pa-kyeiks..would dart between the elephants' legs, fastening steel harnesses.
quick-footed adj.
ΚΠ
1599 T. M. Micro-cynicon iii. sig. B8v Quickfooted kindnes, quick as it selfe thought With that wel pleasing newes but lately bought By loues assiduat care and industry, Into the Chamber runs immediatly.
a1631 G. Harvey Marginalia (1913) 194 A liuely quickfingerid, and quickfootid slaue from his Moothers lapp.
1798 Addr. to Englishmen 10 To affright the effeminate quick-footed Gaul.
1839 W. C. Bryant in U.S. Mag. & Democratic Rev. Apr. 406 Here the quick-footed wolf..crushed the flower Of Sanguinaria.
1938 Times Lit. Suppl. 5 Mar. 158/1 A very quick-footed batsman.
2003 C. Lewis Dict. Playground Slang 295 Each ‘hit’ would kill off that kid until one smarmy and quick-footed twerp would survive until the bell.
quick-handed adj.
ΚΠ
1616 T. Granger Syntagma Grammaticum Ep. Ded. sig. B4 As the prouerbe is, a quick-handed mistresse maketh a slow-heeld seruant.
1834 G. P. R. James John Marston Hall I. vii. 44 You are a good, quick-handed boy.
1908 Daily Chron. 26 Sept. 3/4 It is extremely difficult to get the really competent quick-handed girls both to come to Garden City and to stay there.
1997 Crit. Inq. 24 104 But if most of the body here is painted, soaked into the page in confident wash, limned full and round with quick-handed ink, its heart is indeed mechanical.
quick-hearted adj.
ΚΠ
1820 L. Hunt Indicator 26 Apr. 231 Ending with that simple, quick-hearted line.
1857 Atlantic Monthly Nov. 2/1 It was a position to awaken precociously, one would think, the feelings of the quick-eyed, quick-hearted lad.
1912 Times 30 July 9/4 With quick-hearted sympathy and constant interest in the welfare of her dependants and all around her, she combined judgment and organizing ability.
2001 S. R. L. Hawkins Prophet-seed x. 195 I been a little bit quick-hearted, myself.
quick-nosed adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > smell and odour > [adjective] > having sense of smell > having acute
tender-noseda1425
nosedc1425
high-nosed1548
quick-nosed1561
well-nosed1568
scented1579
well-scented1579
quick-scented1590
nose-wise1596
sagacious1607
scentful1616
nasute1699
nice-scented1777
osmatic1880
nim-nosed1936
1561 T. Norton tr. J. Calvin Inst. Christian Relig. i. f. 40 Many quicknosed men do laugh at this.
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 141 Dogges..are called sharpe..and quicke-nosed.
1855 J. Bigelow Eolopoesis 186 A knowing broker, like the quick-nosed shark, Should swim attendant on the sinking bark.
1958 H. Gregory tr. Ovid Metamorphoses iii. 91 While he stood in doubt, he saw his dogs, His hunters, first Melampus, then quick-nosed Ichnobates crying upon his trail.
quick-paced adj.
ΚΠ
1648 J. Beaumont Psyche xvii. cccxxiii. 338/2 When a quick-paced Intellect doth trace The Lines of any Creatures Being.
1746 R. James tr. B. Ramazzini Dis. Tradesmen in F. Hoffmann Diss. Endemial Dis. xlii. 260 As the Occasions of Cure are slippery and quick-paced, so Experiments should be dangerous.
1829 Times 26 Dec. 6/3 Liberality and enlightenment are words as indeterminate in their meaning as the horizon in its position; the Liberal of this year would be deemed a stationary bigot by the quick-paced infidel of the next.
1939 Fortune Oct. 49/3 The quick-paced competition of the chemical industry.
2006 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) Oct. 292/2 Katie, Tom, and the family ride horses, fish, exercise, hike—and play round after round of Take Two, a quick-paced crossword-style game, using Scrabble tiles.
quick-scented adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > smell and odour > [adjective] > having sense of smell > having acute
tender-noseda1425
nosedc1425
high-nosed1548
quick-nosed1561
well-nosed1568
scented1579
well-scented1579
quick-scented1590
nose-wise1596
sagacious1607
scentful1616
nasute1699
nice-scented1777
osmatic1880
nim-nosed1936
1590 R. Harvey Plaine Percevall Ded. sig. A2v Being quicksented [I] thrust forward on the trale.
1647 R. Sanderson Serm. II. 216 So quick-scented where there is a likelihood of gain.
1749 J. Wesley Let. 4 Jan. (1931) II. 322 Though even he was not so quick-scented as St. Pachomius, who..could ‘smell an heretic at a mile's distance’.
1844 Times 10 Jan. 4/4 ‘Ah!’ exclaimed our vivacious and quick-scented friends.
1949 R. C. Hutchinson Elephant & Castle ii. xxi. 220 The cold, quick-scented freedom of the street.
ΚΠ
1656 tr. J. A. Comenius Latinæ Linguæ Janua Reserata: Gate Lat. Tongue Unlocked li. §509 The sagacitie or quick-sensedness of reason.
quick-spirited adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > manner of action > vigour or energy > [adjective] > lively, vivacious, or animated
jollyc1325
lightsomea1382
kedgec1440
fledge?1461
crank1499
frisky?a1500
sprightya1522
frisk1528
sprightful1550
quick-spirited1552
cranking1567
lively1567
quick-sprighted1579
aleger1590
bright-eyed1590
firking1594
sprightly1594
spirituous1601
great-stomached1607
spirity1615
spiritous1628
lifesomec1635
vivacious1645
rattlingc1650
quick-set1653
airy1654
animated1660
sparklinga1704
bob1721
vivace1721
animate1801
high-lifed1859
sassy1859
chippy1865
sparky1883
high-keyed1893
high life1903
peppy1914
pepful1915
jazzy1917
upbeat1947
zappy1969
sparkly1979
the mind > emotion > excitement > excitability of temperament > spiritedness or liveliness > [adjective]
jollyc1325
kedgec1440
fledge?1461
frisky?a1500
sprightya1522
frisk1528
sprightful1550
quick-spirited1552
lively1567
quick-sprighted1579
alive-like1582
aleger1590
firking1594
sprightly1594
sportive1595
mettled1599
alives-like1601
spirited1601
spirituous1601
mettle1606
great-stomached1607
free-spirited1613
spirity1615
spiritous1628
vivacious1645
rattlingc1650
sportful1650
airy1654
animated1660
racy1671
mettlesome1673
sparklinga1704
raffing?1719
bob1721
vivace1721
alive1748
lifey1793
spunky1831
gilpie1835
bubbling1860
chippy1865
bubblesome1879
colourful1882
sparky1883
bubbly1912
jazzy1917
spritzy1973
sparkly1979
kicking1983
1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum Quycke spirited, and quycke of spirite.
1652 W. Blith Eng. Improver Improved 197 If he be quick spirited, and full of metal, he may doe best at plough and harrowing.
1749 J. Cleland Mem. Woman of Pleasure II. 70 Her languor was vanish'd, and she appear'd quick-spirited, and alive all over.
1855 Times 18 June 8/4 It is a great pity that any well-informed, warm-hearted, quick-spirited, ready-tongued man should have his lips closed by any law.
1995 T. C. P. Zimmermann Paolo Giovio iv. 33 He found them graceful in dress and movement, quick-spirited and sharp in their opinions.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > manner of action > vigour or energy > [adjective] > lively, vivacious, or animated
jollyc1325
lightsomea1382
kedgec1440
fledge?1461
crank1499
frisky?a1500
sprightya1522
frisk1528
sprightful1550
quick-spirited1552
cranking1567
lively1567
quick-sprighted1579
aleger1590
bright-eyed1590
firking1594
sprightly1594
spirituous1601
great-stomached1607
spirity1615
spiritous1628
lifesomec1635
vivacious1645
rattlingc1650
quick-set1653
airy1654
animated1660
sparklinga1704
bob1721
vivace1721
animate1801
high-lifed1859
sassy1859
chippy1865
sparky1883
high-keyed1893
high life1903
peppy1914
pepful1915
jazzy1917
upbeat1947
zappy1969
sparkly1979
the mind > emotion > excitement > excitability of temperament > spiritedness or liveliness > [adjective]
jollyc1325
kedgec1440
fledge?1461
frisky?a1500
sprightya1522
frisk1528
sprightful1550
quick-spirited1552
lively1567
quick-sprighted1579
alive-like1582
aleger1590
firking1594
sprightly1594
sportive1595
mettled1599
alives-like1601
spirited1601
spirituous1601
mettle1606
great-stomached1607
free-spirited1613
spirity1615
spiritous1628
vivacious1645
rattlingc1650
sportful1650
airy1654
animated1660
racy1671
mettlesome1673
sparklinga1704
raffing?1719
bob1721
vivace1721
alive1748
lifey1793
spunky1831
gilpie1835
bubbling1860
chippy1865
bubblesome1879
colourful1882
sparky1883
bubbly1912
jazzy1917
spritzy1973
sparkly1979
kicking1983
1579 T. North tr. Plutarch Liues 12 Two fayer young boyes, whose faces were swete and delicate as maydens be, that otherwise were hardie, and quicke sprighted.
1598 E. Guilpin Skialetheia sig. B7 My quick-sprighted lasse can speake.
1614 tr. G. delle Colonne Life & Death Hector ii. vi. 102/1 Quicke sprighted, light, of courage passing rare.
quick-tempered adj.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > anger > irascibility > [adjective] > irascible (of person)
hotOE
wooda1250
hastivec1300
irous1303
hastya1350
angrya1387
melancholiousa1393
quicka1400
irefulc1400
melancholyc1450
turnec1480
iracundiousa1492
passionatea1500
fumish1523
irascible1530
wrothful1535
fierya1540
warm1547
choleric1556
hot at hand1558
waspish1566
incensive1570
bilious1571
splenative1593
hot-livered1599
short1599
spitfire1600
warm-tempered1605
temperless1614
sulphurous1616
angryable1662
huffy1680
hastish1749
peppery1778
quick-tempered1792
inflammable1800
hair-triggered1806
gingery1807
spunky1809
iracund1821
irascid1823
wrathy1828
frenzy1859
gunpowdery1868
gunpowderous1870
tempersome1875
exacerbescent1889
tempery1905
lightningy1906
temperish1925
short-fused1979
1792 R. Heron tr. Arabian Tales I. 222 Oitbha, being quick-tempered, lost patience.
1830 M. R. Mitford Our Village IV. 28 She used to be a little quick-tempered!
1867 Spectator 26 Jan. 101/1 As..murderous as a quick-tempered Malay.
1941 E. Linklater Man on my Back i.5 He was quick-tempered, and once, on the China coast, got into trouble when a Chinese comprador attempted to bribe him into authorising unnecessary expenditure.
1995 Amer. Scientist Sept. 426/1 Type 2 alcoholics tend to be impulsive and quick-tempered..as well as risk-taking and optimistic.
quick-thoughted adj.
ΚΠ
1782 W. Cowper Expostulation in Poems 316 Laborious and quick-thoughted man.
1858 N. Hawthorne Jrnl. 9 June in French & Ital. Notebks. (1980) v. 302 Mr. Browning was..a most vivid and quick-thoughted person.
1881 Harper's Mag. Dec. 33/1 He is one of the most naturally capable and quick-thoughted men I know.
1952 R. MacIver Democracy & Econ. Challenge ii. 37 Son of a well-to-do Jewish lawyer in a Prussian town, he was a bright, quick-thoughted child.
1973 Walla Walla (Washington) Union-Bull. 10 July 2/6 She's real quick-thoughted.
quick-voiced adj.
ΚΠ
1815 L. Hunt Descent of Liberty iii. 32 Quick-voiced birds that steep the trees in music.
1820 J. Keats Hyperion: a Fragm. i, in Lamia & Other Poems 153 Thus she quick-voic'd spake.
1935 Middleton (N.Y.) Times-Herald 5 Jan. 4/4 Your best radio programs are interupted every few minutes by quick-voiced announcers flushed with the import of a hot news bulletin.
1996 Sunday Times 14 Apr. ix. 10/1 They cluster around a group of sharp-suited and quick-voiced salesmen.
quick-winged adj.
ΚΠ
1611 J. More Let. 8 June in E. Sawyer Memorials Affairs of State Q. Elizabeth & K. James I (1725) 279 The quick-winged and various Fame of my Lady Arabella's and Mr. Seimour's Flight will farre outstrippe the Passage of this Letter.
1639 T. D. Bloodie Banquet v. ii. sig. G3v Ha? thunder? and thou marrow melting blast Quicke winged lightning.
1754 M. Morgan Philoclea iii. i. 36 Quick-winged Vengeance soon shall make them feel The dreadful Terrors of offended Majesty.
1850 E. B. Browning tr. Æschylus Prometheus Bound (rev. ed.) in Poems (new ed.) I. 150 On the back of the quick-winged bird I glode.
1923 Daily Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) 26 July 13/4 Birds with golden voices and quick-winged flight whir in the bushes below the trees.
2005 Ocean County (New Jersey) Observer (Nexis) 26 May 4006 Taking a picture of a quick-winged bee alighting upon a yellow daisy.
quick-worded adj.
ΚΠ
1941 Zanesville (Ohio) Signal 1 Aug. 9/3 ‘Billy’ hadn't just been quick-worded.
1954 J. R. R. Tolkien Two Towers iii. iv. 81 It [sc. a song] is..quick-worded, and soon over.
1999 Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Nexis) 3 Sept. 29 This weekend's rematch of these quick-worded titans—the Bumbershoot Poetry Championship Bout—will take place from 8:15 p.m. until 10:15 p.m. tomorrow in the Bagley Wright Theatre.
b. † quick-aucht n. Obsolete livestock; = aucht n. 1b.† quick dissection n. Obsolete rare a dissection of a living anatomical specimen; cf. quick anatomy n.† quickfrith n. [ < quick adj. + frith n.2] Obsolete rare plants used to form a quick hedge; (also) the hedge itself (cf. frith n.2 3).† quick iron n. Obsolete = lodestone n. 1.† quick-line n. [see discussion at line n.1 1] Obsolete rare asbestos.† quick relief n. Nautical Obsolete a person who comes quickly to relieve the watch.† quick-scab n. Obsolete rare a rapidly spreading skin disease of horses, perhaps a form of ringworm or mange.† quick shot n. Obsolete a small drinking vessel that is quickly emptied.† quick-side n. Nautical Obsolete = freeboard n. 2a.† quickspot n. Obsolete rare the centre of illumination of a thing (only in G. M. Hopkins).† quick-spur n. Obsolete a person who rides quickly (in quot. 1600 figurative).† quickthorned adj. [compare slightly later quickthorn n.] Obsolete rare spiny like hawthorn (cf. quickthorn n.).† quick-water n. [compare German Quickwasser (a1727 or earlier); compare also quicksilver water n. at quicksilver n. Compounds 2] Obsolete a dilute solution of mercury nitrate, formerly used in water-gilding to facilitate the application of liquid gold amalgam to the object that is to be gilded; cf. quick v.3
quick-action adj. (of apparatus) that is able to act quickly.
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the world > action or operation > manner of action > rapidity or speed of action or operation > [adjective]
hiefulc1230
hastyc1330
swift1340
graithfula1400
yedera1400
short1480
speedy1529
expedite1540
quick1548
postingc1553
hasting1566
rushing1694
nimble1707
presto1767
presto change1835
quick-action1887
presto changeo1923
knife-edge1969
light speed1987
society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > parts of machines > mechanism > [adjective] > quick-action or return
quick return1864
quick-action1887
quick-release1905
quick-start1920
1887 Sci. Amer. 9 Apr. 225/2 (table) Quick action primer. Exploded... Delay action primer. Exploded at end of ricochets.
1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 1 Mar. 72/1 Four quick-action jacks adjust the tilt to vary the throughput.
2002 Daily Mirror 31 May 53/4 The Firestorm has every feature a committed gamer would demand—an eight-way D-pad, twin mini-sticks and 12 programmable quick-action buttons for total control.
quick anatomy n. now rare (historical in later use) anatomical dissection of a living organism; an instance of this; a living anatomical specimen; cf. quick dissection n.
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1610 G. Fletcher Christs Victorie viii. 3 So that this Creature well might called be, Of the great world, the small epitomie; Of the dead world, the liue, and quick anatomy.
1651 N. Biggs Matæotechnia Medicinæ Praxeωs sig. b Where have we constant reading upon either quick or dead Anatomies?
1921 E. Weekley Etymol. Dict. Mod. Eng. 46/2 Vivisection was once called live (quick) anatomy.
2008 J. B. Landes in R. Panzanelli Ephemeral Bodies Notes 60 The term quick anatomy refers to an anatomy conducted on a ‘quick’, that is, living body.
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eOE Laws of Ælfred (Corpus Cambr. 173) xviii. §1. 60 Gif beweddodu fæmne hie forlicgge, gif hio sie cirlisc, mid lx scillingum gebete þam byrgean, & þæt sie on cwicæhtum, feogodum.
c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 11108 (MED) Sir Ion giffard nom to him is quic eiȝte echon.
quick-born adj. now rare born alive; (figurative) vital, zealous, eager.
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a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 28547 Þat quikborne child i haue fordon.
?1785 A. Harper Oeconomy of Health 73 They are the quick-born Offspring of the Imagination.
1824 Ld. Byron Deformed Transformed i. ii. 81 His own twin, quickborn of the same womb.
1861 E. Atherstone Israel in Egypt 254 Nay, zealous more than for mere policy,—For a quick-born affection.
1906 Daily Chron. 17 July 3/1 An intrigue on the part of enemies of the reigning favourite, the sudden infatuation of the Duke, and the quick-born love of the young lady herself, had raised Wilhelmine to the dubious eminence of maîtresse en titre.
1930 Jrnl. Polit. Econ. 38 691 Twelve or more children, quick-born and vital, of Italian nationality, whereof six must be provided for.
quick bread n. chiefly North American bread or cake that can be prepared quickly, esp. through the use of a leavening agent that permits immediate baking; cf. earlier quick cake n.
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the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > bread > [noun] > other types of bread
sergeant-loafa1348
clear-matin1362
bean-breadc1380
French bread1420
pease-breada1425
bran-breadc1425
grey breadc1430
angels' breadc1440
dough bread?a1500
baker's bread?1550
acorn bread1571
cart-bread1574
chapter-bread1600
diet-bread1617
ember-bread1681
buff coat1688
bust-coat1706
Picentine bread1712
chestnut-bread1814
naan1828
gluten-bread1846
to-bread1854
batch-bread1862
injera1868
coffee cake1879
pan dulce1882
quick bread1882
sour bread1884
Tommy1895
focaccia1905
hard-dough bread1911
hush puppy1918
potica1927
spoon bread1932
bake1933
pitta1936
hard-dough1966
pain de campagne1970
pocket bread1973
ciabatta1985
pain au levain1985
levain1991
1882 Marble Rock (Iowa) Weekly 2 Mar. Quick Bread—There ain't no use of trying to make bread real light.
1920 M. Wilson Cook Bk. 36 Quick breads include griddle cakes, waffles, muffins, Sally Lunn's, shortcakes and biscuits.
1960 A. E. Bender Dict. Nutrition & Food Technol. 106/1 Quick breads include biscuits, muffins, popovers, waffles and griddle cakes.
1990 T. Ruprecht Toronto's Many Faces 3 Pakwejigan (a quickbread based on corn or wheat flour), accompanied most traditional [Native Indian] meals.
quick-break adj. Electrical Engineering (of a switch or its action) designed to break a circuit and stop a current quickly regardless of the speed with which it is operated.
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the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electricity > circuit > circuit-breaker > [adjective] > acting quickly
quick-break1890
1890 Times 6 Sept. 1/3 The Cockburns Patent Quick Break Switch... Hundreds of thousands in use throughout Continent and elsewhere.
1930 J. A. Moyer & J. F. Wostrel Industr. Electr. & Wiring xvii. 382 Circuits carrying large currents..should be provided with either a quick-break switch or a circuit breaker.
1989 Science 4 Aug. 543/2 The light switch's origins in the gas-tap were clearly visible in its turning mechanism used..before the quick-break switch appeared.
quick buck n. [ < quick adj. + buck n.8] chiefly North American money that is earned quickly or easily, typically by illicit or unscrupulous means; = fast buck n. and adj. at fast adj. Compounds 2.
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society > trade and finance > [noun] > turning over in course of trade > swift return
nimble shilling1801
fast buck1944
quick buck1946
society > trade and finance > management of money > income, revenue, or profit > [noun] > money earned quickly
fast buck1944
quick buck1946
1946 Billboard 21 Dec. 32/3 The names who run for the quick buck are mainly the ones operating on inadequate info.
1947 Middletown (N.Y.) Times Herald 26 Dec. 7/1 Smyth..has turned to publicity for a quick buck.
1972 National Observer (U.S.) 27 May 20/2 Richard Chamberlain is no dripping-behind-the-ears graduate of the school of ‘charm acting’ (his phrase) out for a quick buck at the expense of the classics.
2004 M. Ritter Return to Dresden i. 9 The merchants rushed in to make a quick buck.
quick-build adj. designed to be erected or assembled very quickly.
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1951 Times 26 June 6/1 (advt.) Sandux Quick-build concrete sectional buildings.
1988 R. Schleicher & J. R. Barr Building & flying Model Aircraft (rev. ed.) ix. 111 There are some truly challenging kits available that will reward the builder with an aircraft that really does fly better than any of the quick-build kits.
2001 Hartford (Connecticut) Courant 4 Aug. d1/1 This is a ‘quick-build’ project. In four days, this newest Kingdom Hall..is fully constructed.
quick cake n. chiefly North American cake that can be prepared quickly, esp. through the use of a leavening agent that permits immediate baking; cf. quick bread n.
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the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > cake > [noun] > a cake > other cakes
honey appleeOE
barley-cake1393
seed cakea1400
cake?a1425
pudding-cake?1553
manchet1562
biscuit cake1593
placent1598
poplin1600
jumbal1615
bread pudding1623
semel1643
wine-cakea1661
Shrewsbury cake1670
curd cake1675
fruitcake1687
clap-bread1691
simnel cake1699
orange-flower cake1718
banana cake1726
sweet-cake1726
torte1748
Naples cake1766
Bath cake1769
gofer1769
yeast-cake1795
nutcake1801
tipsy-cake1806
cruller1808
baba1813
lady's finger1818
coconut cake1824
mint cake1825
sices1825
cup-cake1828
batter-cake1830
buckwheat1830
Dundee seed cake1833
fat-cake1839
babka1846
wonder1848
popover1850
cream-cake1855
sly-cake1855
dripping-cake1857
lard-cake1858
puffet1860
quick cake1865
barnbrack1867
matrimony cake1871
brioche1873
Nelson cake1877
cocoa cake1883
sesame cake1883
marinade1888
mystery1889
oblietjie1890
stuffed monkey1892
Greek bread1893
Battenberg1903
Oswego cake1907
nusstorte1911
dump cake1912
Dobos Torte1915
lekach1918
buckle1935
Florentine1936
hash cake1967
space cake1984
1865 Arthur's Home Mag. Dec. Contents Hints for Housekeepers: Emma's Cream Cake—Quick Cake—Ginger Cakes—Yeast Biscuits—Apple Dumplings.
1925 J. Gregory Maid of Mountain ii. 15 I'll stir up a quick-cake for him.
1986 Chicago Tribune (Nexis) 9 Jan. 3 Coffeecakes range from unassuming 8-by-8-inch pans and homey sheet cakes to towering tube and bundt-style cakes. Some cakes take yeast, although quick cakes rely on baking powder or soda for their lift.
2002 Southern Living Apr. 162/2 (recipe) Quick cake.
quick change n. a rapid change of costume made by an actor during a performance in order to play a different part; usually (hyphenated) attributive (also in extended use).
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > providing with clothing > changing clothing > [adjective]
quick change1882
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > performer > [adjective] > type of performer
useful1740
supporting1863
speciality1873
quick change1882
featured1897
non-speaking1959
bankable1964
off-Broadway1971
1882 Oshkosh (Wisconsin) Daily Northwestern 20 Nov. He did a quick-change act from white to black face.
1889 Pall Mall Gaz. 3 Apr. 6/1 The celebrated quick-change artist.
1896 Westm. Gaz. 8 Jan. 2/3 Quick changes—‘trick changes’ is perhaps more technical a term—were accomplished with remarkable ingenuity.
1905 Daily Chron. 13 Mar. 5/7 Mr. Balfour's first..Ministry may reasonably be dubbed the ‘Quick-change Ministry’.
1939 T. S. Eliot Old Possum's Bk. Pract. Cats 22 As knockabout clowns, quick-change Comedians..They had an extensive reputation.
1973 C. Egleton Seven Days to Killing i. 14 They stripped off their uniforms and changed into civilian clothes..in a time which would have been a credit to a troupe of quick-change artists.
1992 Village Voice (N.Y.) 7 Apr. 8/1 But the national dailies have in too many instances ignored the pirouetting Clinton's quick-change artistry.
quick-change v. (a) intransitive to change clothes rapidly; to perform a ‘quick change’; (b) transitive to change (something) rapidly.
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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > providing with clothing > changing clothing > change clothing [verb (intransitive)] > quickly
quick-change1906
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > providing with clothing > changing clothing > change clothing [verb (transitive)] > change clothing > quickly
quick-change1906
1906 Daily Chron. 12 Nov. 6/4 He quick-changed with the deftness and speed of a Fregoli.
1928 Collier's 18 Aug. 18/3 We had to quick-change our hats, put on badges [etc.].
1963 Sunday Gaz.-Mail (Charleston, W. Va.) 24 Feb. 7 b/2 One minute, you're dressed for the Easter Parade; the next second you've quick-changed to casual.
1963 Nevada State Jrnl. 25 Aug. 35/1 (advt.) Capacitor motor can be quick-changed without distrubing pump.
2005 Boston Herald (Nexis) 1 Nov. 37 She quick-changed into half a dozen cute outfits.
quick clay n. [after Norwegian kvikkleire (1873 or earlier)] a type of clay found in northern areas (e.g. Scandinavia, Canada) typified by a high water content, which under certain conditions can spontaneously liquefy, sometimes causing large mudslides; cf. sense A. 18.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > clay > [noun] > other clays
red clayc1475
urry1669
blae1724
cat-dirt1747
iron clay1750
till1762
mulatto clay1788
oak-tree clay1794
porcelain jasper1794
porcellanite1794
Karoo ground1836
plinthite1836
papa1851
Bradford clay1858
Indianaite1868
sinopite1868
hydrobiotite1881
pampas-clay1885
byon1892
potato clay1896
bentonite1898
quick clay1901
gumbotil1916
1901 Bull. Amer. Geogr. Soc. 33 421 In the Vaerdal landslip of May, 1893,..the stream had been cutting against a clay bank in which there was ‘quick’ clay beneath the soil.
1968 R. W. Fairbridge Encycl. Geomorphol. 640/2 A special class of mudflows are those developing in quick clays which spontaneously liquefy and may flow readily on very gentle slopes, rafting houses, roads and trees appreciable distances.
1998 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) A. 356 2457 Clays formed in marine environments often have a much more open structure than those formed in fresh water: isostatic uplift leaves the structure in a metastable state which can be easily disrupted with the disastrous consequences of the quick clay flow slides that are common in Scandinavia.
quick death n. U.S. = sudden death n. at sudden adj. 3b.
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society > leisure > sport > match or competition > [noun] > game or definite spell of play > specific one of series
heata1663
rubber game1793
round1837
rubber match1843
tie-match1864
final1880
postseason1882
semi-final1884
preliminary1886
cup-tie1895
play-off1895
tie1895
leg1899
repechage1899
qualifier1908
quarter-final1916
playdown1918
rounder1918
go-around1933
quick death1938
semi1942
pretrial1946
quarter1950
barrage1955
tie-breaker1961
semi-main1968
tie-break1970
breaker1979
society > leisure > sport > match or competition > [noun] > game or definite spell of play > stage in game
time out1896
restart1897
seventh-inning stretch1903
match point1921
quick death1938
turnaround1959
the mind > will > free will > choice or choosing > types of choice > [noun] > choosing by casting lots > tossing a coin > deciding at first toss
sudden death1834
quick death1938
1938 Circleville (Ohio) Herald 7 Mar. 6/8 Ashville's Cowboys turned back a favored Marysville team, 21-19, in a ‘quick death’ overtime scrap.
1958 Washington Post 20 June a 16/4 Miss McKeever advanced to the final..by beating medalist Mrs. Thomas Konopa..on the 19th green with a birdie in a quick death playoff.
1998 Modesto (Calif.) Bee (Nexis) 28 Dec. c1 Now, the 49ers enter the playoffs, the quick-death portion of the schedule.
Quick Dick n. Military slang (now historical) any of various artillery pieces of the First World War (1914–18) noted for their rapid fire.
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society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > device for discharging missiles > firearm > [noun] > type of firearm > quick-firing
quick-firer1885
QF1889
Quick Dick1918
1918 Modesto (Calif.) Evening News 11 July 2/2 The last named, termed ‘quick Dick’ by the Americans, comes silently and explodes disastrously.
1918 Sat. Evening Post 31 Aug. 34 A fifty-millimeter gun which they dubbed Quick Dick played on them with direct fire.
1936 J. G. Harbord Amer. Army in France 1917–19 xvii. 283 The time of warning usually varied from practically nothing with the ‘Quick Dicks’ as the boys called the Austrian 88's..to as many as five seconds with the heavier calibers.
1956 A. Moorehead Gallipoli 193 The biggest of the Turkish guns that fired from Kum Kale was known as ‘Asiatic Annie’; another was called ‘Quick Dick’.
quick-disconnect adj. designating couplings, fittings, etc., that can be quickly disconnected.
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the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > separation > [adjective] > disjoining or disconnecting > disjoined, disunited, or disconnected > able to be
sejungible1659
disjungible1676
disconnectablea1884
quick-disconnect1948
1948 Gloss. Guided Missile Terms (U.S. Res. & Devel. Board) 69 Umbilical cord, a cable fitted with a quick disconnect plug at the missile end.
2000 Capital (Annapolis, Maryland) 1 July d4/1 You can stop the leaks with replacement couplings, of which there are several styles. Quick-disconnect fittings are great, but they're not cheap.
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the world > life > biology > laboratory analysis > processes > [noun] > dissection > vivisection
quick dissection1578
anatomy1607
vivisection1707
vivisecting1876
zoophile1885
sentisection1889
1578 J. Banister Hist. Man iv. f. 54 This is the notable vtilitie of Diaphragma, as the same Author reporteth to haue beholden in quicke dissections.
quick-firer n. [compare earlier quick-firing adj. at Compounds 2a and slightly later quick-fire adj.] now chiefly historical (a) a quick-firing gun; also figurative; (b) a device that enables a gun to be loaded quickly so that cartridges can be fired in rapid succession (rare).
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society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > device for discharging missiles > firearm > [noun] > type of firearm > quick-firing
quick-firer1885
QF1889
Quick Dick1918
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > device for discharging missiles > firearm > equipment for use with firearms > [noun] > quick-loading or -firing device
quick-loader1882
firer1885
quick-firer1885
1885 Times 13 Aug. 10/1 Appended is a list of the exhibitors who have won the gold medal:..Royal Small Arms Factory, general excellence,..particularly as regards the quick-firer.
1887 Daily News 10 Mar. 2/5 The rifle and its quick-firer should be ordinarily used in this way.
1901 Spectator 12 Oct. 524/1 The newest 6 in. quick-firers are not officially known as quick-firers, because they have not a metal cartridge-case.
1956 C. Cockburn In Time of Trouble xvi. 205 The quick-firers of..controversy who..for obvious morale-building purposes prophesied that the current crisis..was the final crisis of American capitalism.
1988 D. E. Showalter in R. Haycock & K. Neilson Men, Machines, & War 144 It was a legitimate quickfirer, whose shield, trail spade, and recoil carriage put it in a category with the French seventy-five.
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the world > plants > by growth or development > defined by habit > tree or woody plant > wood or assemblage of trees or shrubs > [noun] > planted, cultivated, or valued > hedge or hedgerow > of living plants > plant forming > collectively
quickwoodc1383
quick1456
quicking1469
quickset1484
quickfrith1536
1536 Accts. St. John's Hosp., Canterbury (Canterbury Cathedral Archives: CCA-U13/4) Payd for gatheryng quykfryth..iiijd.
1564 Accts. St. John's Hosp., Canterbury (MS) To enclose the vij acres of land..wyth a quyk fryth.
quickgold n. [probably after quicksilver n.] literary liquid gold.
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society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > metal > precious metal > [noun] > gold > other types of gold
angel gold1526
rux1586
flour-gold1869
quickgold1877
sponge-gold1882
1877 G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 66 The grey lawns cold where gold, where quickgold lies!
1954 I. Murdoch Under Net xx. 276 I took two gulps of the whiskey; it ran through me like quickgold.
1984 A. Carter Nights at Circus 111 It [sc. a tiger] came out of the corridor like orange quicksilver, or a rarer liquid metal, a quickgold.
quick heel n. Rugby an immediate heeling of the ball out of a ruck or scrum, allowing for the swift resumption of an attack.
ΚΠ
1909 Times 15 Feb. 18/4 [He] received the ball from a quick heel from a scrummage.
1947 ‘A. P. Gaskell’ in D. M. Davin N.Z. Short Stories (1953) 179 Tell them we favour the quick heel.
2006 Evening Post (Nottingham) (Nexis) 29 Nov. 60 A quick heel allowed Spencer to break blindside and his pop-pass was gratefully received by Symcox who finished the move.
quick-heel v. [ < quick heel n.; compare heel v.3 9a] Rugby (rare) intransitive to heel the ball back rapidly from a scrum or ruck.
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society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > football > rugby football > play rugby football [verb (intransitive)] > actions or manoeuvres
pack1874
heel1884
scrum1890
goal1900
drop1905
to give (or sell) the (or a) dummy1907
ruck1910
jinka1914
to drop out1917
fly-kick1930
scissor1935
quick-heel1936
short-punt1937
touch-kick1954
grubber-kick1958
peel1960
corner-flag1962
to chip and chase1970
box kick1977
1936 Times 30 Nov. 5/4 A pack who shoved to the last man and quick-heeled from the tight and loose.
quick-in-hand n. (also quick-in-the-hand) a balsam (genus Impatiens), esp. yellow balsam, I. noli-tangere; cf. touch-me-not n. 2b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > particular flower or plant esteemed for flower > [noun] > balsam and allied flowers
noli me tangere1563
balsam apple1578
touch-me-not1659
eagle-flower1718
balsam1736
quick-in-hand1744
Capuchin1756
balsamine1785
impatiens1785
jewelweed1817
snap-weed1823
lady's slipper1836
busy Lizzie1938
sultana1938
patient Lucy1940
policeman's helmet1950
1744 J. Wilson Synopsis Brit. Plants xvii. 193 Balsamine lutea... Quick in the hand, Touch me not.
1785 T. Martyn tr. J.-J. Rousseau Lett. Elements Bot. xxvi. 409 We have a wild species called Yellow Balsam, and also by the familiar names of Quick in hand, or Touch me not.
1863 R. C. A. Prior On Pop. Names Brit. Plants 186 Quick-in-the-hand, that is ‘alive in the hand’, the Touch-me-not, from the sudden bursting and contortion of its seed pods upon being pressed.
1995 Intelligencer (Doylestown, Pa.) 14 May d5/5 Six common names for impatiens are impatience, touch-me-not, quick-in-hand, snapweed, busy Lizzie and garden balsam.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > minerals > types of mineral > oxides and hydroxides > [noun] > spinel group AB2 O4 > magnetite
quick irona1398
magnet1440
lodestone?1518
magnetes1579
osmund stone1613
magnetite1851
Heraclean stone1883
titanomagnetite1895
coulsonite1937
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 202 Magnes..draweþ to it self Iren, so þat it makeþ as it were a chyne of Iren rynges..in þe commune speche þis Iren, it is ycleped quik Iren [L. ferrum viuum].
a1500 in J. Evans & M. S. Serjeantson Eng. Mediaeval Lapidaries (1933) 100 (MED) It makeþ as it were a scheyne of yerne with ryngis, as Ised seyþe; þerfor in þe comen speche þis yerne is clepid quyk yerne.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World II. 515 The ignorant people seeing these rings thus rubbed with the load-stone,..call it quick-yron.
1860 J. Timbs Stories of Inventors & Discoverers 22 References are made to it [sc. a magnet]..by Pliny, who states that ignorant persons call it..quick iron, a name somewhat analogous to our loadstone.
quick kick n. American Football a punt made from a passing or running formation rather than from a punting formation, intended to surprise the defence.
ΚΠ
1896 Chicago Tribune 4 Oct. 31/3 The addition of a quick kick is especially desirable in a criss-cross series. Vice versa, if the line-up is plainly for a punt..the conditions are then most favorable for a criss-cross.
2001 N.Y. Times 2 Jan. d3/2 Beasley..pooched a quick kick to the 4-yard line.
quick kill n. a sudden or rapid victory (cf. kill n.1 2).
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the world > action or operation > prosperity > success > [noun] > ultimate success or victory > sudden or rapid
quick kill1915
1915 M. E. McLoughlin Tennis as I play It iii. 63 Without opportunity for the perfect poise and ‘set’ which the slower turf courts afford, he strives for a quick ‘kill’ rather than to work his player out of position at the end of a long rally.
1969 Listener 14 Aug. 221/3 Wilson..lost interest in the ‘quick kill’ approach and tried to make a deal with Smith.
a1974 R. Crossman Diaries (1975) I. 382 James Callaghan, for example, said he thought that..we should try to get a quick kill... In that case the preparations for the quick kill should have taken place before U.D.I.
1989 W. Adams & J. W. Brock Dangerous Pursuits ii. v. 61 According to Fred L. Hartley, president of Unocal, and the target of a hostile takeover raid, junk bonds ‘are weapons created and used solely for the corporate quick kill’.
quick-knit n. (also in form kwiknit) (a) n. a type of very thick wool with which a garment can be knitted in a short time; a garment which can be knitted quickly, esp. with this wool; (b) adj. (of wool) consisting of several strands giving a thick yarn with which a garment can be knitted in a short time; (of a garment) made with such wool.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > thread or yarn > [adjective] > woollen
Shetland1790
zephyr1809
crewel1887
Saxony1888
quick-knit1935
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > [adjective] > made in specific way > knitted
pointelle1892
quick-knit1935
thick-knit1961
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > thread or yarn > [noun] > woollen > for sewing or knitting > specific
Norfolk thread1407
garn1483
crewel1494
caddis1530
worsted yarn1533
worsted1546
fingering1681
German wool1807
wheel-spuna1825
Berlin wool1841
ice wool1876
Berlin1881
eis wool1882
quick-knit1935
bawneen1958
1935 Home Notes 2nd Knitting Bk. p. iii (advt.) W. B. Kwiknit..The original quick-to-knit wool.
1935 Home Notes 2nd Knitting Bk. p. iii (advt.) W. B. Kwiknit is a thick 2 ply, ideal for outdoor sportswear.
1960 Vogue Knitting Bk. 9 Lister Lavenda quick-knits are the..chunkiest, quickest-to-knit-with wools in knitting today!
1962 J. Wade Running Sand vi. 64 Some Tyrolean quick-knit jumper.
1972 ‘C. Fremlin’ Appointment with Yesterday xi. 84 Milly turned down the third remnant of tattered quick-knit cardigan.
1986 P. Hesketh Over Brook 22 Stitches dropped in the quick-knit jacket, picked up for makeweight meaning.
2004 Vancouver Sun (Nexis) 23 Nov. c4 The scarf is a quick knit in the simple garter stitch on 10-millimetre needles.
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the world > the earth > minerals > types of mineral > silicates > amphibole (double chain) > [noun] > asbestos
quick-line1601
asbestos1608
earth flax1649
thrum-stone1681
fossil linen1797
cork-fossil1806
fossil cork1859
mountain-cork1859
rock-cork1859
byssus1864
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World II. 4 There is a kind of Line found out which will not consume in the fire: this in Italy they call Quick-line.
quick-loader n. a device that enables a gun to be loaded quickly.
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society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > device for discharging missiles > firearm > equipment for use with firearms > [noun] > quick-loading or -firing device
quick-loader1882
firer1885
quick-firer1885
1882 Forest & Stream 20 Apr. 234/2 In Russia the Kruka quick-loader has been introduced, though the adoption of the Evans is the ultimate intention.
1884 Sat. Rev. 16 Feb. 209/2 A contrivance called a ‘quick~loader’ has been issued for simultaneous trial with the Martini-Enfield.
1987 Target Gun Aug. 70/3 They also had a .455 Watson Patent quickloader for a Webley ‘W9’ revolver with its leather pouch.
quick-look adj. originally Astronautics involving the rapid or prompt provision of information from a satellite or spacecraft; involving a rapid or cursory look.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > information > action of informing > [adjective] > information retrieval > quick
ready-reference1846
quick reference1906
quick-look1964
1964 Proc. Joint Computer Conf. Spring 125/1 The requirement of the programming system for OGO was to provide quick-look analysis and control of the status of the spacecraft.
1975 Geos (Dept. Energy, Mines, & Resources, Canada) Spring 8/1 A ‘Quick Look’ facility attached to the satellite station at Prince Albert, Sask., provides black and white photography of Arctic sea-ice within 20 minutes of the satellites pass over Canada.
1992 N.Y. Times 12 July v. 3/1 The ‘quick look’ system was set up so that passengers with nothing to declare can pass without pausing.
2000 Supreme Court Econ. Rev. 8 272 Its prior cases used an ‘abbreviated’ or ‘quick-look’ analysis under the Rule of Reason.
quick-luncheon n. [compare earlier quick-lunch n.] now rare a lunch intended to be served and eaten quickly; cf. quick-lunch n.
ΚΠ
1896 ‘M. Harland’ & C. T. Herrick National Cook Bk. 354 (heading) The ‘Quick’ Luncheon.
1913 Baedeker's Northern Italy p. xxiii The so-called ‘bars’ are sometimes convenient for a snack or ‘quick luncheon’.
1928 J. Buchan Runagates Club viii. 220 At a quick-luncheon counter he got into talk with a man.
2002 K. Allen in W. Belasco & P. Scranton Food Nations 252 By 1944, 721 citizens from 23 occupied nations..were transported to Berlin and forced to work in the company's hotels, cafés, cafeterias, and quick luncheon buffets.
quick-minded adj. having a quick or ready mind; quick-witted.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > intelligence, cleverness > sharpness, shrewdness, insight > [adjective]
sharpc888
yepec1000
spacka1200
yare-witelc1275
fellc1300
yap13..
seeinga1382
far-castinga1387
sightya1400
perceivinga1425
snellc1425
politic?a1439
quickc1449
pregnant?a1475
pert1484
quick-wittedc1525
apt1535
intelligentc1540
queemc1540
ready-witted1576
political1577
of (a) great, deep, etc., reach1579
conceited1583
perspicuous1584
sharp-witteda1586
shrewd1589
inseeing1590
conceived1596
acute1598
pregnate1598
agile1599
nimble-headed1601
insighted1602
nimble1604
nimble-witted1604
penetrant1605
penetrating1606
spraga1616
acuminous1619
discoursing1625
smart1639
penetrativea1641
sagacious1650
nasute1653
acuminate1654
blunt-sharpa1661
long-headed1665
smoky1688
rapid1693
keen1704
gash1706
snack1710
cute1731
mobile1778
wide awake1785
acuminated1786
quick-minded1789
kicky1790
snap1790
downy1803
snacky1806
unbaffleable1827
varmint1829
needle-sharp1836
nimble-brained1836
incisivea1850
spry1849
fast1850
snappy1871
hard-boiled1884
on the spot1903
1789 H. Mustafa tr. Ghulam Husain Khan Sëir Mutaqharin I. 777 He was also still more expeditious and quick minded in slaughtering people.
1830 Times 24 June 3/1 Proverbially quick-minded is the Irish peasant.
1852 W. Bagehot Coll. Wks. (1965) I. 346 But he was a quick-minded..man of the world.
1905 E. Phillpotts Secret Woman i. i. 13 She was a girl of soothing curves and soothing voice, quick-minded under her great composure.
1936 J. Cary Afr. Witch ii. 38 Obstinacy and stupidity are things that tend to annoy quick-minded and intelligent people.
2003 Amer. Econ. Rev. 93 177/1 Quick-minded readers might be tempted to think that there is a way out of this dilemma.
quick-mire n. now rare a quagmire.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > landscape > marsh, bog, or swamp > [noun] > quaking bog
mizzyc1400
quawa1500
quick-mire1509
quavemire1530
quallmire1553
quamire1555
quagmire1566
quakemire1577
gog-mire1583
quag1589
quabmire1597
quadmire1610
bog-mire1624
bumby1632
quick1648
trembling bog1697
shake-bog1815
quake1896
1509 H. Watson tr. S. Brant Shyppe of Fooles (de Worde) xxxii. sig. H.v An euyll wyfe hathe nought ado to departe from her house, leste that she go not in to the quycke myre.
1583 J. Dee Jrnl. in True & Faithful Relation Spirits (1659) i. 12 A place, where Springs, Quick-mires, and Bogs are.
c1600 (?c1395) Pierce Ploughman's Crede (Trin. Cambr. R.3.15) (1873) 226 All wagged his fleche as a Quyk myre.
1649 tr. R. Descartes Disc. Method iii. 46 All my designe tended onely to fix my self, and to avoid quick-mires and sands, that I might finde rock and clay.
1745 J. Graham Simon Pure Unmask'd 26 Opinion not grounded upon Reason seldom fails of leading Men into Bogs and quick Mires.
1889 J. O. Halliwell Dict. Archaic & Provinc. Words (ed. 11) II. 658/2 [Devon] Quickmire, a quagmire.
a1954 G. Derwood Poems (1955) 55 Who to a star up-stretched sinks in quick-mire.
quick one n. colloquial a drink, esp. an alcoholic one, intended to be drunk rapidly.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > intoxicating liquor > [noun] > a drink of > taken rapidly
quick one1917
quickie1933
swiftie1993
1917 S. Aumonier Three Bars' Interval 71 Next time..anyone like him asks you to have a drink, lap it up like a poodle and stand him a quick one in return.
1930 W. H. Auden Poems 12 There's time for a quick one before changing. What's yours?
1959 B. Cobb Don't lie to Police (1960) xii. 194 We go in a bunch at half-past eleven and have a quick one, or rather one or two quick ones.
1982 M. Kington Miles & Miles 62 I was taken to the bar for a quick 'un.
1997 T. Jordan EastEnders (BBC TV script) Episode 569. 25 Grant. Time for a quick one here first though eh? (Calls to waiter ) Can I order a beer mate?
quick-reaction adj. Military = rapid-reaction adj. 2; esp. in quick-reaction force.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > armed forces > the Army > group with special function or duty > [adjective] > organized for rapid movement
volant1548
running1592
velitary1600
expedite1609
flying1665
mobile1879
quick-reaction1961
rapid deployment1967
rapid-reaction1968
1961 Stevens Point (Wisconsin) Daily Jrnl. 2 June 14/1 The other three divisions for the quick reaction force..likely would come from among 10 reserve combat infantry divisions.
1985 Guardian (Nexis) 2 Mar. Senior officers have seen a need for specialised squads to take on the paramilitary groups. This has led to quick reaction units being set up.
2004 D. Zucchino Thunder Run x. 155 Blount wasn't sure he had enough combat power to hold the airport and send a quick reaction force to rescue Perkins.
quick reference adj. giving quick and easy access to information; cf. ready-reference at ready adj., adv., int., and n. Compounds 3a.
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society > communication > information > action of informing > [adjective] > information retrieval > quick
ready-reference1846
quick reference1906
quick-look1964
1906 Times 1 Sept. 6/4 In the shelves is a small ‘quick-reference’ library.
1938 L. M. Harrod Librarians' Gloss. 124 Quick-reference books, Books which are essentially of a reference character, such as directories, dictionaries, and gazetteers.
1978 Early Music 6 599/2 Part II is a quick-reference chart summarizing the advice given on French in Part I.
1984 Which Micro? Dec. 85/1 There is..a quick reference card listing all the commands.
quick-release n. a device designed for rapid release; frequently attributive.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > parts of machines > mechanism > [adjective] > quick-action or return
quick return1864
quick-action1887
quick-release1905
quick-start1920
1905 Internat. Libr. Technol. 62 xli. 48 Instead of moving the valve handle to this [slow-release] position..it is moved to the extreme left to quick-release position... The brake-cylinder air rushes out, allowing the release springs to release the brakes suddenly.
1916 G. Frankau Guns 11 Now the foul clay cakes on britching strap and clogs the quick-release.
1972 P. Cleife Slick & Dead xviii. 233 Tripping the quick-release of my harness, I leapt from my seat.
1976 J. Wainwright Walther P. 38 58 I saw him bend to work the quick-release mechanism. The car gave a gentle heave as the weight of the caravan left its rear bumper.
1995 Today's Parent (Canada) Aug. 107 (advt.) The safety and comfort of your child are our foremost concerns... The child restraint system provides security and is equipped with a quick release buckle.
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1838 F. Chamier Jack Adams I. xii. 52 It wants but a few minutes to eight, and the master is a quick relief.
1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. (at cited word) Quick-relief, one who turns out speedily to relieve the watch.
quick-response adj. = rapid-response adj. at rapid adj., adv., and n. Compounds 1.
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1945 Jrnl. Royal Aeronaut. Soc. 49 540/1 Developments have taken place in quick response electrical systems having a high ratio of output power to input control.
1986 T. Clancy Red Storm Rising (1988) i. 15 The quick-response team of KGB border guards stormed up the staircase.
1993 N.Y. Times 31 Aug. a14/1 The Air Force is creating a set of quick-response wings to dispatch to world crises on a moment's notice.
2006 Houston Chron. (Nexis) 2 July (Business section) 1 [Traditional wedding retailers] are fighting the incursions with discounts, quick-response service and new products.
quick saver n. Nautical (now historical and rare) an arrangement of two or three ropes fixed in front of the courses to prevent them from ballooning out too much.
ΚΠ
1819 D. Lever Young Sea Officer's Sheet Anchor (ed. 2) 116 In the Merchant Service, and particularly in Ships weakly manned, a quick-saver..is often used for the foresail.
1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. (at cited word) Quick-saver, a span formerly used to prevent the courses from bellying too much when off the wind.
1984 J. Harland Seamanship in Age of Sail 212 When scudding, a ‘quicksaver’ was set up to prevent the foresail ballooning out too far horizontally... A broad flat sennit band was secured to the yard, descended in front of the forward side of the sail, and was set up on deck with a tackle. It might have two or three limbs. The French name for it, croix de Saint-André, suggests one that was X-shaped, like a St Andrew's cross.
2006 D. Lambdin King's Trade xxxi. 286 I'll have ‘quick-savers’ rigged on the fore course, and all three tops'ls.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > animal disease or disorder > disorders of horses > [noun] > other disorders of horses
trench?a1450
colt-evilc1460
affreyd?1523
cholera1566
crick1566
incording1566
leprosy1566
taint1566
eyesore1576
fistula1576
wrench1578
birth1600
garrot1600
stithy1600
stifling1601
stranglings1601
hungry evil1607
pose1607
crest-fall1609
pompardy1627
felteric1639
quick-scab1639
shingles1639
clap1684
sudden taking1688
bunches1706
flanks1706
strangles1706
chest-founderingc1720
body-founder1737
influenza1792
foundering1802
horse-sickness1822
stag-evil1823
strangullion1830
shivering1847
dourine1864
swamp fever1870
African horse sickness1874
horse-pox1884
African horse disease1888
wind-stroke1890
thump1891
leucoencephalitis1909
western equine encephalitis1933
stachybotryotoxicosis1945
rhinopneumonitis1957
1639 T. de Gray Compl. Horseman ii. xvii. 297 This malady, which we call the Quick-scab,..runneth from one member of the horse to the other.
1720 E. R. Experienc'd Farrier (ed. 4) 434 (heading) Quick-scab to Cure.
1726 Dict. Rusticum (ed. 3) Quick-scab, a Distemper in a Horse, which putrifies and corrupts the Blood and Flesh, and at last breaks out in a loathsome Manner, much like the Mange or Leprosy.
quick-seller n. an item, esp. a book, that sells quickly.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > merchandise > article(s) to be sold > [noun] > which is easily sold
seller1895
quick-seller1926
society > communication > book > kind of book > books as sold > [noun] > best-seller or quick-seller
bestseller1896
bestsellership1920
quick-seller1926
runaway best-seller1937
runaway1941
megabook1980
megaseller1983
1926 Ironmonger 16 Jan. (Suppl.) 50 (advt.) Dealers who stocked early are now enjoying the profits from this quick-seller.
1947 Daily Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) 28 July 6/4 (advt.) And Hundreds of Other Quick-Sellers.
1970 Columbus (Nebraska) Telegram 18 Apr. 4/2 Some of the quick-sellers now in paperback were obviously ground out on electric tripewriters.
quick-service adj. that provides rapid service; rapidly provided or done.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > trading place > place where retail transactions made > [adjective] > relating to shop > types of shop
high streetc1600
co-op1872
multiple1903
fixed price1907
serve-self1909
serve-yourself1909
quick-service1910
self-serve1910
self-service1912
drive-through1918
Army and Navy1919
drive-in1930
one-stop1933
Army-Navy1934
full-service1934
mom-and-pop1942
walkround1950
ma-and-pa1965
pop-up1993
1910 Colorado Springs Gaz. 28 Nov. 8/2 (advt.) Quick Service Phone Directory.
1934 Archit. Rev. 75 11 True, academicians like Herkomer..deigned to use photographic labour-saving devices for quick-service portraiture.
1976 H. MacInnes Agent in Place vii. 63 A hamburger at a Madison Avenue quick-service counter.
2001 U.S. News & World Rep. 17 Sept. 64/1 While quick-service restaurants have their roots in the post-Civil War era, they owe their real popularity to the automobile age.
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the world > food and drink > drink > containers for drink > drinking vessel > [noun] > small
tass1480
cymphe1490
cannikin1509
trinket1541
tun1555
pocill1572
noggin1588
chark1591
quick shot1624
nipperkin1691
pannikin1727
tassie1790
dobbin1792
tinnie1825
tot1828
tin1900
thimble cup1933
1624 Skelton's Ghost in J. Skelton Elynour Rummin sig. A2 With froth-Canne and nick-pot, and such nimble quick-shot.
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society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > parts of vessels > body of vessel > side(s) of vessel > [noun] > part above waterline
quick-side1627
freeboard1718
topside1815
1627 J. Smith Sea Gram. ix. 39 Lest they..if her quicke side lie in the water, ouerset the ship.
1694 P. A. Motteux Wks. F. Rabelais (1737) v. xvii. 76 Lest the Ship's Quick-Side should lye in the Water.
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the world > matter > light > [noun] > in or from a luminary > centre of
quickspotc1873
c1873–4 G. M. Hopkins Note-bks. & Papers (1937) 223 Every visible palpable body has..a centre of illumination or highspot or quickspot.
quick-spring n. now English regional and literary (rare after 17th cent.) a running spring.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > water > spring > [noun]
welleOE
walma897
spring?1316
spring wellc1340
water springc1450
source1477
fountain1490
quick-spring1530
eye1535
fountainhead1585
fount1594
springlet1661
keld1697
urn1726
spout head1733
spout1778
seep1824
1530 G. Joye tr. M. Bucer Psalter of Dauid f. 165v He sendethe forthe quycke sprynges into ryuers: which run downe betwene the hylles.
1572 J. Bridges tr. R. Gwalther Hundred, Threescore & Fiftene Homelyes vppon Actes Apostles l. 332 Moyses opened the veines of quicke springs out of the hard rockes.
1622 A. Court Constancie i. 33 Hence as from a quick-spring did flow that Constancie.
1660 R. Sharrock Hist. Propagation & Improvem. Veg. 89 You need but open that very place to your quick-spring, and give it a clear vent, and certainly your bog would decay.
1882 Times 2 Sept. 7/4 The fact that the creative impulse in this direction has been so strong and so abiding in our particular branch of the Anglo-Saxon race, should be sufficient to make us pause in our endeavours to dam up any quick-spring of poetry that may still be left to us.
1889 E. Peacock Gloss. Words Manley & Corringham, Lincs. (ed. 2) You moän't ride that poäny across here, sir, theäre's wick-springs e' th' boddum, an' you'll be stuck fast if you do.
ΚΠ
1600 R. Surflet tr. C. Estienne & J. Liébault Maison Rustique iii. xxi. 473 As concerning the grafting of it, you must take the time of autumne, for..this tree is a quickespur and forerider.
quick-start adj. relating to or characterized by rapid starting.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > parts of machines > mechanism > [adjective] > quick-action or return
quick return1864
quick-action1887
quick-release1905
quick-start1920
1920 Amer. City Feb. 96/2 The one-man, automatic, light-weight, safey car is..equipped with automatic appliances (including quick-stop brakes and quick-start control).
1950 Archit. Rev. 108 424 Quickstart or starter switch control gear can be supplied and the four-lamp fittings can be arranged for two-circuit control.
1994 i-D Oct. 20/1 Features include a normal pitch control, anti-vibration, a jog dial for frame-by-frame searching and a quick-start no-delay button.
quick succession n. Law a change in ownership of property twice within a limited period; frequently attributive designating a measure of relief from a part of inheritance tax (previously capital transfer tax and estate duty) in such an eventuality.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > transfer of property > [noun] > transfer of ownership > twice in short period
quick succession1914
1914 Act 4 & 5 Geo. V c. 10 §15 Relief in respect of quick succession where property consists of land or a business.
1936 G. M. Green Death Duties v. 123 If any such other allowance is available on the second death, the ‘quick succession’ allowance is computed first and the other allowance is made against the reduced duty.
1973 Times 6 Oct. 19/2 Quick succession relief will reduce the double burden to some extent.
1980 Times 11 Jan. 1/6 There is some relief in cases of quick succession which might provide some mitigation for a short term.
2005 Observer (Nexis) 23 Jan. (Cash pages) 6 This could be reduced by quick-succession relief if a later death occurs within five years of an earlier death.
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the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > thorny berry-bush > [adjective] > of or resembling hawthorn
quickthorned1567
pyracanthine1880
thornberry1934
1567 J. Maplet Greene Forest f. 89 The Hedgehog hath a sharp and quickthorned garment.
quick trick n. Bridge a card or combination of cards, such as an ace, or a king in a suit where the ace is also held, that can be relied on to win a trick.in quot. 1955 attributive designating conventions for valuing a hand according to the holding of such cards.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > bridge > [noun] > types of hand > distribution of cards in hand > specific
chicane1886
quick trick1921
length1927
honour trick1931
1913 M. C. Work Auction Devel. 60 (table) Number of Clubs..Five or more..Headed by..Ace or King..Other strength..One sure quick trick.]
1921 Fort Wayne (Indiana) Jrnl.-Gaz. 30 Oct. iii. 3/8 Q—What is a Quick Trick? A—An Ace of any Suit.
1921 Janesville (Wisconsin) Daily Gaz. 31 Dec. 9/7 The long suit does not hold top honors nor quick tricks.
1927 M. C. Work Contract Bridge iii. 58 Two quick tricks..is the minimum strength with which a Contract denial should be made.
1955 I. Fleming Moonraker viii. 81 Its a famous Culbertson hand... He used it to spoof his own quick-trick conventions.
1977 Homes & Gardens Feb. 17 Your five quick tricks ought to be enough to see him [sc. your partner] home in Five Diamonds.
2003 North Shore Times (Austral.) (Nexis) 30 Aug. 17 Partner has opened and you have the alluring quick tricks of A-K and an Ace.
quick-turnover adj. depreciative (now rare) (of a person) concerned with buying and selling goods for cash as rapidly as possible, esp. on the black market.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > selling > [adjective] > in specific manner
retailing?1582
wholesale1607
cutting1851
direct1892
wholesaling1896
underselling1899
quick-turnover1951
outbound1989
1951 Sunday Pict. 21 Jan. 5/2 They have been getting the ‘needful’ from their quick-turnover, ready-cash friends—the cinemas and the hotels.
1951 M. McLuhan Mech. Bride 129/2 If there's anything this type of quick-turnover gent can't see..its cold facts.
1956 ‘J. Wyndham’ Seeds of Time 100 To enable quick-turnover spivs to make easy money out of suckers.
ΚΠ
1738 G. Smith tr. Laboratory i. 16 You will have a good Quick-Water for gilding.
1860 C. Tomlinson Useful Arts & Manuf. 2nd Ser. 37 In gilding, the buttons are first pickled in dilute nitric acid, and then thrown into a pan containing a solution of nitrate of mercury, called quick-water.
a1877 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. II. 1848/2 Quick-water, a dilute solution of nitrate of mercury (10) and gold (1), used in the process of water-gilding.
quick worker n. colloquial a person who rapidly achieves a degree of intimacy with a potential sexual partner.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > love > courtship or wooing > [noun] > one who courts or woos > making fast progress
fast worker1917
quick worker1921
1921 B. Tarkington Intimate Strangers ii. 57 I told you in the car you were a quick worker.
1927 W. Smith Are you Decent? 177 Strange that Eddie Dean, who was known as such a quick worker, should always fail to interpret the look the brooding, dark eyes had for him.
1938 E. Waugh Scoop ii. ii. 157 I will say you're a quick worker. Sorry to barge in on the tender scene.
1969 O. Hesky Sequin Syndicate v. 48 ‘But there's something going on.’ ‘Well,’ the old man said cheerfully, ‘that's all right, isn't it? I didn't think Tarni was such a quick worker, though.’
C2. Adjectival compounds of the adverb.
a. With present participles.† quick-designing adj. Obsolete† quick-devouring adj. Obsolete† quick-guiding adj. Obsolete† quick-labouring adj. Obsolete† quick-piercing adj. Obsolete† quick-relishing adj. Obsolete† quick-scenting adj. Obsolete† quick-self-lessening adj. Obsolete† quick-spouting adj. Obsolete
quick-acting adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > manner of action > rapidity or speed of action or operation > [adjective] > operating quickly and strongly
quick1545
rash1600
quick-acting1855
1855 D. G. Mitchell Fudge Doings II. xxxvii. 212 I think even that, with all his sentiment rooted up and thrown away..he yet feels a very quick-acting and sensitive pride about the opinion which Miss Kitty or Mrs. Quid (as the case may be) entertains of his character.
1862 Internat. Exhib.: Illustr. Catal. Industr. Dept. II. xiii. 9/1 (caption) A pair of quick-acting portrait Lenses.
1931 A. Huxley Music at Night i. 12 Chemically pure pornography..is a quick-acting emotional drug.
1992 RS Components: Electronic & Electr. Products July 485/2 (caption) HBC (mains) Fuses..Quick-Acting (F).
quick-burning adj.
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1740 G. Smith tr. Laboratory (ed. 2) App. p. lxv Prime it with a quick burning charge.
1845 J. Phillips & C. G. B. Daubeny Geol. in Encycl. Metrop. VI. 590/1 Quick-burning coals [are worked] in the upper part.
1925 Times 14 Mar. 16/1 The high volatility and uniform quality of ‘BP’ provide a clean, quick-burning fuel that means most power with least carbon deposit.
1998 Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald Jrnl. 30 Oct. a1/2 A quick-burning fire turned a dance hall jammed with teen-age Halloween revelers into a deathtrap.
quick-coming adj.
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1794 M. Wollstonecraft Let. 8 Jan. (2003) 241 I will never..begin to encourage ‘quick-coming fancies’, when we are separated.
1868 W. Morris Earthly Paradise Apol. 1 I cannot..make quick-coming death a little thing.
1939 Times 10 Feb. 10/3 I visited it in April last, as the marvel of the quick-coming spring was enacting itself.
2006 Arkansas Democrat-Gaz. (Nexis) 12 May The quick-coming capsizing sequence is a smash'em-up, toss-'em-around jolt.
quick-conceiving adj.
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1598 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 1 i. iii. 187 To your quicke conceiuing discontents Ile reade you matter deepe and daungerous. View more context for this quotation
1784 A. Hughes Poems 130 In his mind, quick conceiving, the generous thought No sooner had birth than to action 'twas brought.
1857 J. T. Adams Knight of Golden Melice 386 I may not dilate, but merely hint this much, not doubting that your quick-conceiving minds have already sounded the depths of the subject.
1943 S. Larrabee Eng. Bards & Grecian Marbles x. 240 A beautiful Athens and a Greece of high romance, which existed only in their quick-conceiving imaginations.
quick-decaying adj.
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1708 J. Philips Cyder ii. 64 Freezing Nose, and quick-decaying feet.
1955 Condor 57 152 The quick-decaying hardwoods killed by flooding were hosts to insects classed as secondary by entomologists.
1982 Science 12 Feb. 877/1 During the Ginna emergency, some radiation escaped in quick-decaying noble gases and as iodine-131.
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1677 T. D'Urfey Madam Fickle iv. 49 I'll..bring it off with quick designing Wit.
1876 E. Jenkins Devil's Chain 101 It was noticed by quick designing men.
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1630 F. Quarles Hadassa in Divine Poems 91 The quick-devouring fire of heaven.
a1696 M. Mollineux Fruits of Retirement (1702) 117 They run the hazard to be hurl'd On wrecking Rocks, or quick-devouring Sands.
1798 L. Booker Malvern ii. 58 The scythed car to quick-devouring flames Devote.
quick-drying adj.
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1826 Times 27 Apr. 7/4 (advt.) Quick drying Oak and Mahogany Varnishes.
1856 C. Binks in Jrnl. Soc. Arts 28 Nov. 34/1 Alleged quick-drying linseed oils to be found in the artists' colour-shops.
1913 V. B. Lewes Oil Fuel 91 Explosions..from leakages of volatile spirit used in making up anti-fouling and quick-drying paint..led to extended investigations being made.
1997 J. Wilson Coarse Fishing Method Man. (1998) 75/1 Include some quick-drying paint and strong marker pens in your kit.
quick-fading adj.
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1597 J. Gerard Herball ii. 395 Ephemerum Mathioli. Quicke fading flower.
1661 R. Lovell Πανζωορυκτολογια, sive Panzoologicomineralogia 57 The quick fading flower, drunk with the grapes of wild vine.
1786 J. Abercrombie Gardener's Pocket Dict. I. 140 Fig apple tree, with small, fugacious or quick-fading flowers.
1898 S. Phillips Poems 98 Around thee is the scent Of over-beautiful, quick-fading things.
2002 L. Parrott & L. Parrott Relationships i. 28 The best you can hope for is an illusion of wholeness. And it's a quick-fading illusion at that.
quick-falling adj.
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1767 W. L. Lewis tr. Statius Thebaid I. vi. 283 Rapid it flies, ascending in its Flight, And, whilst it seems quick-falling, grows in Height.
1788 New Vocal Enchantress 159 We mark the first fall of the quick-falling leaf.
1832 Ld. Tennyson Œnone in Poems (new ed.) 61 Quick falling dew Of fruitful kisses.
1940 Winnipeg Free Press 17 Aug. (Mag.) 3/3 Neither was it original to work late into the quick-falling, chilly dusks.
2003 Los Angeles Times (Nexis) 13 Apr. k1 The quick-falling rain had nowhere to run but into the house.
quick-firing adj.
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1789 Adultery 22 Mr. Dodwell was on shore amusing himself with a quick firing gun, which the General had put into his hands.
1890 G. S. Clarke Fortification xiv. 207 Quick-firing guns require only two or three men..to work them.
1979 A. Fox Threat Warning Red i. 3 That twin 4.5″ turret-radar-controlled, quick-firing automatic.
2001 Ships Monthly Mar. 29/1 Both have had their Exocet launching tubes dismounted so that the only armament they now carry is the Seawolf SAM and light calibre, quick-firing weapons.
quick-flowing adj.
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1606 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. (new ed.) ii. iii. 504 Each hair he hath is a quick-flowing stream.
1632 W. Lyndesay in W. Lithgow Totall Disc. Trav. sig. Biij Thou hast sweetly sung..in our quick-flowing tongue.
1874 A. Austin Tower of Babel i. ii.16 For the quick-flowing senses to become A stagnant pool, fetid and nauseous... That's death!
1914 Bull. Amer. Geogr. Soc. 46 758 Consequently in all Korea there are many small quick-flowing streams, but only a few rivers.
2006 Washington Post (Nexis) 9 Sept. g1 Many residents recall when the spring-fed waterway was a quick-flowing stream.
quick-glancing adj.
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1735 A. Pope Epist. Lady in Ethic Epist. 63 Rufa, whose eye quick-glancing o'er the Park Attracts each light gay Meteor of Spark.
1748 T. Gray Ode in R. Dodsley Coll. Poems II. 266 The insect youth..shew their gayly-gilded trim Quick-glancing to the sun.]
1848 E. C. Gaskell Mary Barton I. x. 184 Catching the state of the case with her quick-glancing eyes.
1907 E. Rickert Golden Hawk 29 The well-chiseled nose & quick-glancing eyes.
2003 J. Cashford tr. Homeric Hymns vi. 99 Farewell, quick-glancing honey-sweet goddess.
quick-growing adj.
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1628 R. Hayman Quodlibets i. 16 In our blest best plot, you haue sow'd good seeds, Which doe out-grow Natures quick-growing weeds.
1842 C. W. Johnson Farmer's Encycl. 456/1 Fen, the name of a distemper to which hops are subject. It consists of a quick-growing mould, or moss.
1879 Mrs. A. G. F. E. James Indian Househ. Managem. 62 Planting a quick-growing shrub to form a hedge.
1941 J. S. Huxley Uniqueness of Man iii. vi. 100 The quick-growing beast..suffers.
2000 National Trust Mag. Spring 22/2 Shelter belts..made by ‘nursery plantings’—a mix of quick-growing trees like silver birch, cherry, hawthorne, field maple, hemlocks and pines—to protect the oaks and conifers until they get going.
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1793 T. Holcroft tr. J. C. Lavater Ess. Physiognomy (abridged ed.) xxvii. 129 The work of the quick-guiding Providence.
quick-gushing adj.
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1845 C. Norton Child of Islands 135 The shy, quick-gushing blood.
1907 E. Wharton Fruit of Tree iii. xxvi. 388 Her quick-gushing pity lay too near that professional exterior.
1988 Washington Post (Nexis) 24 May e1 Americans, with their embraces, their quick gushing tears and their ‘have a nice day’ superficiality, often puzzle Sharansky.
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1535 Bible (Coverdale) Prov. x. A A quycke laboringe hande maketh riche.
quick-loading adj.
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1862 E. Schalk Summary Art of War iii. 60 Each man has time to charge and use his gun with coolness and reflection; therefore to sharpshooters quick-loading guns should not be given.
1874 J. W. Long Amer. Wild-fowl Shooting 37 A quick-loading [powder] flask, i.e., one having a large feed-hole to the charger, should also be used.
2006 Santa Fe New Mexican (Nexis) 4 June d1 Small businesses in particular could be hurt if they have to pay more to have a quick-loading site.
quick-moving adj.
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1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene iii. viii. sig. Kk2v In stead of eyes two burning lampes she set In siluer sockets..And a quicke mouing Spirit did arret To stirre and roll them.
1658 T. Bancroft Time's out of Tune 50 We see a light quick-moving flame On weighty bodies seise.
1793 T. Holcroft tr. J. C. Lavater Ess. Physiognomy (abridged ed.) xxxv. 180 The cheerful, open, free, quick-moving mouth.
1890 Spectator 7 June 792 To compute the speed or mileage of quick-moving animals.
1992 D. Lessing Afr. Laughter 301 The ideas of the Think-Tank filter down, have influence, like a stream of fresh quick-moving water in stale water.
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1633 J. Ford Broken Heart i. iii. sig. C1 Their quicke-piercing eyes, which dive..Downe to thy thoughts.
1811 M. R. Mitford Poems (ed. 2) 117 Where art was vain, where science fail'd, Quick-piercing intellect prevail'd.
1887 J. J. Piatt At Holy Well 112 One uplifted hand Holds a quick-piercing light.
ΚΠ
1708 J. Philips Cyder i. 29 That from Harvey nam'd, Quick-relishing.
quick-returning adj.
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1592 T. Rogers tr. Thomas à Kempis Soliloquium Animae x. 64 Manie traps are laid for the wandering soule; and great safetie hath the quick returning dooue.
1730 J. Thomson Spring in Seasons 47 A quick-returning twinge Shoots thro' the conscious heart.
1792 F. M. Cowper & W. Cowper Orig. Poems 61 At every quick-returning pain Thou giv'st the balm that heals.
1879 R. D. Joyce Blanid 103 And we saw in his quick-returning sense His life's fair purpose and thought intense.
2005 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 25 May t8 The 53-year-old chose his hobby not as a quick-returning investment, but rather for the love.
quick-rolling adj.
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1584 R. Wilson Three Ladies of London i Quick-rolling eyes, her temples high.
1860 Times 6 Feb. 8/3 Heavy consignments and hungry markets, quick rolling machinery and busy mills.
2005 Daily Rec. (Morristown, New Jersey) (Nexis) 4 Nov. 1 d Bernards striker Jesse Gonzalez carried the ball all the way up the left wing and scored on a quick-rolling shot to the far post.
quick-running adj.
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1706 R. Howlett Anglers Sure Guide ii. xxxiii. 38 When you fish in a pretty quick-running Stream..put stones into your Balls of Paste, and cast them in whilst it is moist..lest you draw the Fish from your place.
1773 W. Fordyce New Inq. Putrid & Inflammatory Fevers i. vi. 22 They found that a gravelly soil on the banks of a quick-running stream was in general a very healthy situation.
1861 All Year Round 8 June 250/2 Deep wall-like waves, quick running and merciless.
1906 Westm. Gaz. 21 Apr. 16/1 The alders that fringe the banks of the quick-running stream are still bare of leaves.
1989 Black Amer. Lit. Forum 23 92 One that lingered and stayed with teller and listener, had to come from some mountain spring of affection—clear, cold, quick-running, and unsentimental.
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1742 H. Fielding Joseph Andrews II. iii. v. 99 The quick-scenting Dogs attacked him. View more context for this quotation
1860 Harper's Mag. Feb. 314/2 Benito is a wiry, tall, hardy fellow, with a long, curved, quick-scenting nose, and round full eyes which roll incessantly.
quick-seeing adj.
ΚΠ
1635 F. Quarles Emblemes i. xv. 62 Quick-seeing Faith now blind?
1865 M. J. Holmes Hugh Worthington ii. 23 By this time Hugh was himself again. His rapid, quick-seeing mind had taken in both the past and the present.
1925 J. Gregory Maid of Mountain xxxvi. 327 Very keen, quick-seeing eyes withal.
1962 H. C. Weston Sight, Light & Work (ed. 2) viii. 229 It is desirable to select workers who are quick-seeing for objects of the apparent size with which they will have to deal.
ΚΠ
1616 W. Browne Britannia's Pastorals II. i. 17 Braue Birds they were, whose quick-selfe-less'ning kin Still wonne the girlonds from the Peregrin.
quick-setting adj.
ΚΠ
1822 J. Frost Brit. Patent 4710 (1857) 2 When other quick setting calcarous [sic] cements are used, [the face of the mould must be covered, and I use] fine linen or other cloth, or paper.
1887 J. Newman Notes on Concrete iv. 25 The hardening of slow-setting cements is generally considered more trustworthy than that of quick setting cements.
1963 C. R. Cowell et al. Inlays, Crowns, & Bridges ii. 7 Very deep parts of a cavity..should have a sedative sub-lining of quick-setting zinc oxide and eugenol.
1992 New Republic 18 May 17/2 During the first twenty-four hours, city workers poured 250 cubic yards of quick-setting concrete into the swirling water.
quick-shifting adj.
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1594 W. Shakespeare Lucrece sig. D4 There appeares Quicke-shifting Antiques vglie in her eyes. View more context for this quotation
1651 J. Reading Guide to Holy City xviii. 185 In these depths of quick-shifting thoughts, sinne easily hideth it selfe.
1784 W. Jones Hindu Wife (1881) 56 Behind the glowing wheels Six jocund seasons dance, A radiant month in each quick-shifting hand.
1873 E. Caswall Hymns & Poems (ed. 2) 391 Fades the quick-shifting scene; and in its stead A dungeon spreads its gloom.
1982 Pace Apr. 15 These youngsters communicate in their own lingo... It is a quick-shifting ‘taal’ that alarms parents.
quick-shutting adj.
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1857 Sci. Amer. Aug. 412/1 The Corliss engine (working very expansively with rotary and very quick-shutting valves) has been for several months performing admirably on the propeller Curlew.
1876 T. Hardy Hand of Ethelberta I. xxiii. 232 Faith's soft, quick-shutting eyes looked unutterable things.
2000 Indianapolis Star (Nexis) 15 Nov. 4 s Another safety violation was the center's quick-shutting doors, which caused the partial severing of a 2-year-old child's finger.
quick-speeding adj.
ΚΠ
1828 in E. Irving Reply Var. Crit. Introd. 15 There is a goodly difference between the clod of the valley and the quick-speeding light.
1833 J. S. Waugh Diss. Prophecies Sacred Script. Introd. 15 There is a goodly difference between the clod of the valley and the quick-speeding light.
1871 W. E. Channing Wanderer vi. 106 Quick-speeding schooners ploughing the blue main.
1919 V. Woolf Night & Day xxviii. 416 The quick-speeding silver moon.
1934 J. Farnol Winds of Chance liii. 368 Then I heard quick speeding steps and Japhet was beside me on his knees, his arms about me.
2008 M. Lurie To Light Attained 35 Thus to slide inside his awaiting vehicle similarly of proudest presentation,..quick speeding Himmelman,..proceeding to his let's hope not too anxiously overpacing heart-throb evening date.
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1813 T. Busby tr. Lucretius Nature of Things I. iii. 731 Quick-spouting blood..And fierce convulsions.
a1850 S. Genin Select. Wks. (1855) 231 The quick-spouting breath of his strong iron lung.
quick-springing adj.
ΚΠ
1663 R. Head Hic et Ubique sig. A2v Your sublime dignity, quick-springing wit.
a1715 M. Monck Marinda (1716) 85 The streaks Of a quick springing Joy.
1883 H. E. Hamilton Bk. of Dreams 77 But now the mountain is alive again With the quick-springing armies of the soil.
1911 E. M. Clowes On Wallaby xi. 308 To grapple with all the quick-springing mass of undergrowth which leaps to life, almost in a night.
1996 M. A. Doody True Story of Novel 527 During the celebration of the Adonia in July, the women made little gardens in terracotta pots, of quick-springing green herbs like fennel and lettuce.
quick-surprising adj.
ΚΠ
1937 E. Blunden Elegy 42 And though you marked my last arising, My next shall be as quick-surprising.
quick-talking adj.
ΚΠ
1936 N.Y. Times 27 Apr. 17/2 One little knot coagulates around a short, quick-talking man who does amazing things with three cards.
1963 Punch 4 Sept. 358/2 Gerry is a show-off, a quick-talking egotist.
2000 Independent 18 Mar. (Weekend Review section) 8/6 Strong and Marber..reveal a duo whose mutual mistrust..is ritualised..in a driven parody of a joshing, quick-talking double-act.
quick-thriving adj.
ΚΠ
1652 W. Blith Eng. Improver Improved (ed. 3) xxv. 168 The Ash is also a gallant quick-thriving Wood.
1715 J. Kersey Dict. Anglo-Britannicum (ed. 2) Ash, a Quick-thriving Tree.
1936 Times 21 Sept. 18/4 It is stated that well-housed, quick-thriving pigs are not likely, on proper rations, to have soft fat.
b. With past participles.† quick-compounded adj. Obsolete† quick-gone adj. poetic Obsolete† quick raised adj. Obsolete† quick-shod adj. Obsolete† quick-spread adj. Obsolete† quick-wrought adj. Obsolete
ΚΠ
1730 J. Thomson Autumn in Seasons 188 The mind, The varied scene of quick-compounded thought.
quick-drawn adj.
ΚΠ
1750 B. Bourn Sure Guide to Hell vii. 75 Till at length, urged by him, with a fond Heart, panting Breast, quick-drawn Breath..you at last yield yourself up to his Wishes.
1824 C. Garnett Night before Bridal 209 The quick-drawn breath; The throbbing artery; the pale cheek flush'd.
1882 J. Hawthorne Fortune's Fool (1883) i. xii A quick-drawn, panting sigh.
1994 Scotsman (Nexis) 31 Aug. The first movement should establish a dreamy sound of hot, quick-drawn breath.
ΚΠ
1818 J. Keats Endymion i. 21 He could not miss His quick gone love.
1893 E. Arnold Adzuma i. i. 9 There would pass The roar of those wide, terrible, white vans Casting a quick-gone shadow.
1920 Windsor Mag. June–Nov. 204/1 Down in the road a baby's prattle, A farm-cart's loud but quick-gone rattle.
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1598 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 1 iv. iv. 12 The king with mighty and quicke raised power. View more context for this quotation
1788 D. Monro Treat. Med. & Pharmaceut. Chym. I. 266 Put them into a proper vessel, and sublime with a strong and quick raised heat.
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1645 City Alarum 23 If the Souldier be quickshod with this mettall [etc.].
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1895 R. Kipling Second Jungle Bk. 8 The quick-spread ears of the deer caught the last sentence.
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1898 Q. Rev. Apr. 435 He wove for Theseus a snare quick-wrought.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2007; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
quickv.1
/kwɪk/, U.S. /kwɪk/α. Old English cucian, Old English cuician, Old English cwician, Old English cwycian, Middle English quikie, Middle English quikye, Middle English quykee, Middle English quykye.
β. early Middle English cwicede (past tense), early Middle English cwikede (past tense), Middle English queke, Middle English quik, Middle English quike, Middle English quyk, Middle English quyke, Middle English quykke, Middle English quylke (transmission error), Middle English qvyke, Middle English qwike, Middle English qwyk, Middle English qwyke, Middle English whike, Middle English whikke, Middle English whyke, Middle English–1500s quicke, Middle English–1500s quycke, 1500s– quick; also Scottish pre-1700 quik.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > source or principle of life > resurrection or revival > [verb (intransitive)]
aquickc885
arisec950
quickeOE
riseOE
upbraidc1275
uprisec1340
quickena1382
recoverc1400
resuscite?c1450
revivea1500
raise1526
relive?1526
resuscitate1602
requicken1611
reanimate1645
resurrect1805
re-energize1938
the world > life > source or principle of life > giving of life > give life [verb (intransitive)] > receive or acquire life
quickeOE
forquichec1200
quickena1382
vivificate1660
vivify1740
eOE Leechbk. (Royal) (1865) iii. xlvii. 338 Smire mid þa saran limu. Hie cwiciaþ sona.
OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 1st Ser. (Royal) (1997) xxxiii. 461 Se synfulla mid incundre onbryrdnysse cucað.
a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 177 To-genes sumere heo floweð, þanne alle moren quiken, and eorðe and trewes growen.
c1300 St. Mary Magdalen (Laud) 485 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 476 (MED) Þat me wolde nou riȝht þinche murie, miȝhte þis wumman quikie aȝein and liuen.
c1390 G. Chaucer Parson's Tale 241 The goode werkes quyken agayn..whan we han contricioun, but..the goode werkes that men doon whil they been in dedly synne..may neuere quyken agayn.
a1425 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (1987) iv. 631 This Troilus gan with tho wordes quyken.
a1500 in R. H. Robbins Hist. Poems 14th & 15th Cent. (1959) 115 (MED) Then schall Cambere Ioyfulle be, The myght of Cornewayle quycke anon.
?1527 L. Andrewe tr. Noble Lyfe Bestes sig. riiii Whan she feleth her yonges quycke or stere in her body.
2. † a. transitive. To give or restore life to; = quicken v.1 1. Also figurative. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > source or principle of life > giving of life > give life [verb (transitive)]
wrecchec897
quickOE
soulOE
aquicka1000
quickena1382
vivificate?a1475
live1483
envive1523
embreathea1529
instruct1532
animate1533
vivify1545
enlive1593
inanimate1610
vegetate1620
interanimatea1631
pre-inanimatea1631
enliven1631
vive1637
suscitate1646
the world > life > source or principle of life > resurrection or revival > [verb (transitive)]
quickOE
arearc1000
raisec1175
reara1325
upraisec1340
quickena1382
again-raisec1384
araisea1400
resuscea1400
revokea1413
recovera1425
revivec1425
suscitec1430
resuscite?c1450
risea1500
relive?1526
to call againa1529
resuscitate1532
requicken1576
refetch1599
reanimate1611
reinspire1611
reinanimatea1631
recreate1631
revivify1631
redivive1634
revivificate1660
resurrection1661
resurrect1773
re-embody1791
revivicate1798
re-energize1803
resurrectionize1804
revitalize1869
reimpress1883
OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: John v. 21 Sicut enim pater suscitat mortuos et uiuificat sic et filius quos uult uiuificat : suæ forðon se fæder auęcceð ða deado & inlihteð uel cuicað suæ æc ðe sunu ðaðe wil cwicað.
OE Paris Psalter (1932) cxviii. 50 Me þin spræc spedum cwycade.
c1175 ( Ælfric Homily: St. Vincent's Day (Bodl. 343) in S. Irvine Old Eng. Homilies (1993) 112 He wæs ða dead þurh þa Iudeiscen, and he cwicede us þe on hine lyfæð.
c1380 G. Chaucer Second Nun's Tale 481 Thow seist thy prynces han thee yeven myght Bothe for to sleen and for to quyken [v.rr. quekyn; whikke] a wight.
c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. xv. 23 (MED) Þe whiles I quykke [v.rr. quikye; quik was in] þe corps..called am I anima.
1447 O. Bokenham Lives of Saints (Arun.) (1938) 2976 (MED) Her me..beseche for þi dede man: Qwyk hym ageyne, lord.
c1450 J. Capgrave Life St. Katherine (Arun. 396) (1893) iv. 1801 Whan to the body he cam it for to queke [rhyme seeke].
c1460 (a1449) J. Lydgate Minor Poems (1934) ii. 754 Pray we to Crist Iesu To quyke a figure in our conscience.
a1641 H. Spelman Larger Treat. conc. Tithes (1647) xxix. 184 The vigor that the Pope added.., was rather a fortifying of it with a curse against..spoilers, then an enlargement of the validity thereof, as quicking thereby a livelesse body.
1654 P. Heylyn Theologia Veterum vii. 469 Thou fool, saith he [sc. St Paul], that which thou sowest is not quicked except it die.
a1683 J. Owen Wks. (1721) 204 The teaching of the Son, is..communication of life, quicking the dead, an opening of blind eyes.
1836 Rep. Irish Poor Law Comm. in Times 30 Sept. 7/3 I married a wife, and was promised the foal in the mare's body as a fortune; the mare quicked foal, and from that day to this I never got so much as a noggin.]
b. transitive. To give or restore vigour to; to stir up, inspire; = quicken v.1 2. Now chiefly poetic.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > refreshment or invigoration > refresh or invigorate [verb (transitive)]
akeleOE
restOE
comfort1303
ease1330
quickc1350
recurea1382
refresha1382
refetec1384
restorec1384
affilea1393
enforcec1400
freshc1405
revigour?a1425
recomfortc1425
recreatec1425
quicken?c1430
revive1442
cheerc1443
refection?c1450
refect1488
unweary1530
freshen1532
corroborate1541
vige?c1550
erect?1555
recollect?1560
repose1562
respite1565
rouse1574
requicken1576
animate1585
enlive1593
revify1598
inanimate1600
insinew1600
to wind up1602
vigorize1603
inspiritc1610
invigour1611
refocillate1611
revigorate1611
renovate1614
spriten1614
repaira1616
activate1624
vigour1636
enliven1644
invigorate1646
rally1650
reinvigorate1652
renerve1652
to freshen up1654
righta1656
re-enlivena1660
recruita1661
enlighten1667
revivify1675
untire1677
reanimate1694
stimulate1759
rebrace1764
refreshen1780
brisken1799
irrigate1823
tonic1825
to fresh up1835
ginger1844
spell1846
recuperate1849
binge1854
tone1859
innerve1880
fiercen1896
to tone up1896
to buck up1909
pep1912
to zip up1927
to perk up1936
to zizz up1944
hep1948
to zing up1948
juice1964
c1350 Psalter (BL Add. 17376) in K. D. Bülbring Earliest Compl. Eng. Prose Psalter (1891) cxviii. 37 (MED) Quik me in þy waie.
c1390 G. Chaucer Parson's Tale 536 Ire..is the feruent blood of man yquyked [v.r. ywhiked] in his herte.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 25581 (MED) Til heuen stei þou And quicked vr hertes, suete iesu.
c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 237 Forto quykee [sic] in hem the mynde..of the bifore seid thingis.
a1500 (c1410) Dives & Pauper (Hunterian) (1976) i. 111 (MED) Þe peple be þe preist offryn vp here hertis to God and here preyerys quekyd be þe feir of charite.
1567 T. Drant tr. Horace Pistles in tr. Horace Arte of Poetrie sig. Gvij That poet..That can stere vp my passions, Or quicke my sprytes at all.
1615 T. Tomkis Albumazar i. ii. sig. B3 Your loue, sir, like strong water..quick's your feeble limbs.
1734 J. Rogers Ess. Epidemic Dis. 161 If the Circulation be quicked in the same Proportion, it will follow, that 60 Drams must be separated.
1854 Ld. Dalhousie in Times 1858 18 Feb. 12/2 These feelings may be quicked in the hostile action which she will be called upon to meet by force of arms.
1898 T. Hardy Wessex Poems 188 That swift sympathy With living love Which quicks the world.
1995 G. Benton tr. G. Leopardi in G. Benton & A. Hunter Wild Lily, Prairie Fire i. 3 Here on the baked back, quicked by no other tree or flower..you strew your lonely tufts, lithe broom.
a. intransitive. Of a firebrand or fire: to kindle, begin to burn. Also figurative. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > heat > burning > burn or be on fire [verb (intransitive)] > catch fire or begin to burn
quicka1225
kindle?c1225
tindc1290
atend1398
to catch fire (also afire, on fire)c1400
quickenc1425
enkindle1556
fire1565
to set on fire1596
take1612
catch1632
conflagrate1657
to fly on fire1692
to go up1716
deflagrate1752
flagrate1756
inflame1783
ignite1818
to fire up1845
a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 81 (MED) Þe brond þe is al aquenched..ne quikeð he neure.
c1385 G. Chaucer Knight's Tale 2335 Oon of the fyres queynte And quyked [v.r. quekede] agayn.
c1450 (c1380) G. Chaucer House of Fame 2078 As fyr ys wont to quyke and goo.
c1450 (c1400) Bk. Vices & Virtues (Huntington) (1942) 226 Þe delites and eses of þe body, þat queken and brennen in þe fier of lecherie.
b. transitive. To kindle, ignite (a fire, light). Also figurative: to ignite, fuel (anger, etc.); = quicken v.1 3. Obsolete (archaic in later use).
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > heat > burning > burn or consume by fire [verb (transitive)] > kindle or set alight
annealeOE
ontendeOE
atend1006
alightOE
kindlec1175
tindc1175
lightc1225
lightenc1384
quickc1390
firea1393
to set (a) fire in, on, upon, of, now only toc1400
quickenc1425
accenda1475
enlumine1477
to light upa1500
to shoot (something) on firec1540
to give fire1562
incend1598
entine1612
betine1659
emblaze1743
to touch off1759
ignite1823
c1390 G. Chaucer Parson's Tale 628 He may ful lightly quyken [v.r. queken] the fyr of angre and of wratthe, which that he sholde quenche.
c1395 G. Chaucer Franklin's Tale 1050 Hir [sc. the moon's] desir Is to be quyked and lighted of youre [sc. the sun's] fyr.
a1425 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (1987) iii. 484 Pandarus to quike [v.r. quylke] alwey the fir Was evere ylike prest and diligent.
1853 C. S. Smith tr. Gretti's Saga in New Englander (New Haven, Connecticut) (1881) Jan. 55 Gretti went in along the cave; he quicked a light [Icelandic kveikði ljós], and explored the cave.
c. intransitive. Of a rumour: to arise, spread. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > information > publishing or spreading abroad > publish or spread abroad [verb (intransitive)] > spread or be current
springOE
spreadc1300
to go abouta1325
quicka1400
risea1400
runa1400
walkc1400
stir1423
voice1429
fly1480
to go abroad1513
to come abroad1525
wandera1547
divulge1604
to get abroad1615
to take aira1616
to make (also do) the rounds1669
to get about1740
reach1970
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Trin. Cambr.) 17476 Wo was hem..whenne þis tiþing bigon to quyk [a1400 Vesp. thik].
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
† quickv.2
Obsolete.
transitive and intransitive. To fence, reinforce, or protect with a quickset (hawthorn) hedge. Cf. quickset v.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > hedging > make or repair hedge [verb (transitive)] > furnish with quickset hedge
quickset1508
quick1739
1739 J. Watson Gentleman & Citizen's Almanack 64/1 Upwards of 60 Perch of Ditching made this Season, and well quicked, by the Help of the Boys.
1780 P. Luckombe Tour through Ireland 159 The country is intersected with walls of dry stone, and ditches that have never been quicked.
1801 Trans. Soc. Arts 19 73 A ditch..quicked with a double row of fine plants.
1836 Times 8 Feb. 2/1 To be Sold by Auction..480 Acres of very rich Land..in a high state of cultivation, well planted and quicked, with a neat cottage residence.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2007; most recently modified version published online September 2018).
quickv.3
/kwɪk/, U.S. /kwɪk/ transitive. To coat (metal or a metal object) with mercury or a solution containing mercury so as to facilitate the adherence of a gold or silver layer to the metal surface. Cf. quicken v.2, quicking n.3
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > working with specific materials > working with metal > work with metal [verb (transitive)] > coat or cover with metal > with specific metal
tin1398
leadc1440
ironc1450
lay1472
copper1530
braze1552
silverize1605
foliate1665
plate1686
whiten1687
foil1714
blanch1729
quicken1738
amalgam1789
quick1790
aluminize1791
plate1791
zincify1801
platinize1825
resilver1832
galvanize1839
electroplate1843
zinc1843
electro-silver1851
platinate1858
electrotin1859
white-lead1863
palladiumize1864
white-metal1864
brassc1865
nickelize1865
nickel-plate1872
nickel1875
stopper1884
electro1891
sherardize1904
steel1911
stellite1934
flame-plate1954
steel-face1961
1790 W. Richardson Chem. Princ. Metallic Arts 103 Then they pour a little of this solution into a bason, and with a brush dipped therein, stroke over the surface of the metal to be gilt, which immediately becomes quicked.
1891 G. E. Bonney Electro-platers' Handbk. v. 112 Brass and silver are best quicked in a solution of the double cyanide of mercury and potassium.
1923 W. R. Cooper W. G. McMillan's Treat. Electrometall. (ed. 4) vi. 116 Many articles are ‘quicked’ before being subjected to the operation of depositing other metals, especially silver and gold, upon their surfaces.
1999 Surface Sci. 440 359/1 The disk was..‘quicked’ by dipping in an aqueous solution of 6.25 g of mercuric oxide and 19.0 g of sodium cyanide per liter until a smooth film of mercury covered the surface.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
quickv.4
/kwɪk/, U.S. /kwɪk/ English regional (northern and north midlands). Now rare.
transitive. To pull up ‘quicks’ or weeds; (also) to pull weeds from around.
ΚΠ
1862 C. C. Robinson Dial. Leeds & Neighbourhood 448 Wick, to pull up bad grass.
1874 E. Peacock John Markenfield III. 113 Their boys and girls released..from ‘wicking’ and ‘singling’ turnips.
1877 F. Ross et al. Gloss. Words Holderness at Whick v. To root up weeds from amongst corn.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.2a1400
adj.n.1adv.eOEv.1eOE
v.21739
v.31790v.41862