quick

Etymology

From Middle English quik, quic, from Old English cwic (“alive”), from Proto-West Germanic *kwik(k)w, from Proto-Germanic *kwikwaz, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷih₃wós (“alive”), from *gʷeyh₃- (“to live”), *gʷeyh₃w- (“to live”). Cognate with Dutch kwik, kwiek, German keck, Swedish kvick; and (from Indo-European) with Ancient Greek βίος (bíos, “life”), Latin vivus, Lithuanian gývas (“alive”), Latvian dzīvs (“alive”), Russian живо́й (živój), Polish żywy (“alive”), Welsh byw (“alive”), Irish beo (“alive”), biathaigh (“feed”), Northern Kurdish jîn (“to live”), jiyan (“life”), giyan (“soul”), can (“soul”), Sanskrit जीव (jīva, “living”), Albanian nxit (“to urge, stimulate”). Doublet of jiva.

adj

1. Moving with speed, rapidity or swiftness, or capable of doing so; rapid; fast.
   I ran to the station – but I wasn't quick enough.
   He's a quick runner.
2. Occurring in a short time; happening or done rapidly.
   That was a quick meal.
3. Lively, fast-thinking, witty, intelligent.
   You have to be very quick to be able to compete in ad-lib theatrics.
4. Mentally agile, alert, perceptive.
   My father is old but he still has a quick wit.
5. Of temper: easily aroused to anger; quick-tempered.
   She has a very quick temper.
   He is wont to be rather quick of temper when tired.
   The bishop was somewhat quick with them, and signified that he was much offended. 1549, Hugh Latimer, The Sixth Sermon Preached Before King Edward, April 6 1549
6. (archaic) Alive, living.
   Man is no star, but a quick coal / Of mortal fire. 1633, George Herbert, The Temple
   The inmost oratory of my soul, Wherein thou ever dwellest quick or dead, Is black with grief eternal for thy sake. 1874, James Thomson, The City of Dreadful Night, section X
7. (now rare, archaic) Pregnant, especially at the stage where the foetus's movements can be felt; figuratively, alive with some emotion or feeling.
   Whoever does any act under such circumstances that if he thereby caused death he would be guilty of culpable homicide, and does by such act cause the death of a quick unborn child, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 10 years, and shall also be liable to fine. Section 316, Penal Code (Cap. 224, 2008 Ed.) (Singapore)
   When sentenced she sought to avoid hanging by declaring herself with child – ironically, given her favourite deception – but a ‘jury of Matrons’ found her not quick. 2012, Jerry White, London in the Eighteenth Century, Bodley Head, published 2017, page 385
8. Of water: flowing.
9. Burning, flammable, fiery.
10. Fresh; bracing; sharp; keen.
11. (mining, of a vein of ore) productive; not "dead" or barren

adv

1. Quickly, in a quick manner.
   Get rich quick.
   Come here, quick!
2. Answer quickly.
   Quick, how do you spell 'Krabs'? 2006, SpongeBob SquarePants, Whale of a Birthday

noun

1. Raw or sensitive flesh, especially that underneath finger and toe nails.
2. Plants used in making a quickset hedge
   The works […] are curiously hedged with quick. 1641, John Evelyn, diary entry September 1641
3. The life; the mortal point; a vital part; a part susceptible to serious injury or keen feeling.
   This test nippeth, […] this toucheth the quick. 1550, Hugh Latimer, Sermon Preached at Stamford, 9 October 1550
4. Quitchgrass.
5. (cricket) A fast bowler.

verb

1. (transitive) To amalgamate surfaces prior to gilding or silvering by dipping them into a solution of mercury in nitric acid.
2. (transitive, archaic, poetic) To quicken.
   1917, Thomas Hardy, At the Word 'Farewell' I rose as if quicked by a spur I was bound to obey.