▪ I. quicken, n.1
(ˈkwɪk(ə)n)
Also 4 quiken, 6 quickene; 6– whicken, 7 whighen, 9 wicken, wiggin.
[The northern equivalent of quickbeam, and presumably from quick a., but the exact nature of the ending is not clear: in early use always in comb. with tree. Cf. quick tree.
An OE. cwictreow is found in glosses, rendering an obscure L. cresis or gnesis.]
1. a. The mountain-ash, or rowan-tree (Pyrus aucuparia). b. The service-tree (Sorbus domestica). † c. The juniper. (Obs.)
| Comb. with tree. a 1387 Sinon. Barthol. (Anecd. Oxon.) 26 Juniperus, quikentre. 1548 Turner Names Herbes (E.D.S.) 75 The seconde kynde [of sorbus] is called..in Englishe a rountree or a Quicken tree. 1562 ― Herbal ii. (1568) 71 The tre whiche we call in the North countre a quicken tre or a rown tre, & in the South countre a quikbeme. 1686 Plot Staffordsh. 223 The Fraxinus sylvestris or Quicken-tree, which they firmly believe will certainly preserve them from all fascinations, and evill spirits. 1756 Sir J. Hill Brit. Herbal 514 We have two other species. 1. The common Service... 2. The Quicken-tree. 1844 M. A. Richardson Borderer's Table-bk. VII. 182 Witchwood, the mountain ash..called in divers parts of Northumberland the whicken-tree. 1857 O'Grady Pursuit Diarmuid 143 He..followed Diarmuid's track to the foot of the quicken tree. |
| absol. 1674 in Depos. Cast. York 209 They tye soe much whighen about him, I cannot come to my purpose, else I could have worn him away once in two yeares. 1756 Pococke Trav. (1889) II. 217 The quicken and yew grow here. 1769 R. French in A. Young Tour Irel. (1780) I. 380 Two small groves..consisting of quicken or mountain ash. 1857 O'Grady Pursuit Diarmuid 143, I know that Diarmuid is in the top of the quicken. |
2. attrib., as quicken-berry, quicken-bough, quicken-branch.
| 1579 Langham Gard. Health (1633) 88 Mulberies, Quicken-berries, greene Grapes. 1671 Sir W. Boreman in F. P. Verney Mem. Verney Fam. (1892) I. 15 The king's..thankes for the Quickenbury tree y{supu} sent his ma{supt}{supy}. 1879 Henderson Folk-lore vi. 184 Twigs of mountain-ash or quicken-berry. 1894 Yeats Celtic Twilight 86 One of these bands carried quicken boughs in their hands. |
▪ II. quicken, n.2 Sc. and north. dial.
(ˈkwɪk(ə)n)
Also north. whick-, wicken.
[f. quick n.2, the northern form of quitch.]
Couch-grass; also pl. the underground stems of this and other grasses.
| 1684 Meriton Yorksh. Dial. 41 Our Land is tewgh, and full of strang whickens. 1816 Scott Antiq. xxxv, The plant Quicken, by which, Scottice, we understand couch-grass, dog-grass, or the Triticum repens of Linnæus. 1842 J. Aiton Domest. Econ. (1857) 173 Quickens, docks, thistles,..furze, broom. 1898 J. R. Campbell in Trans. Highl. & Agric. Soc. 85 Quickens are in reality underground stems. Unlike roots they are jointed... Quickens are not confined to one species of grass. |
b. attrib. and Comb., as quicken-grass, quicken-producer, quickens-scutch.
| 1843 Hardy in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club II. No. 11. 63 note, Loosening and breaking the roots of the quicken-grass. 1858 R. S. Surtees Ask Mamma lxv. 295 The rushes of one field and the whicken grass of the other. 1898 J. R. Campbell in Trans. Highl. & Agric. Soc. 85 The grass that is best known to farmers as a quicken-producer is couch-grass. Ibid. 88 It is a common belief that fibrous root-scutch belongs to Agrostis, and that quickens-scutch belongs to couch-grass. |
▪ III. † ˈquicken, n.3 Obs. rare—1.
In 6 quiken.
[f. quick a. Cf. B. 2.]
A living creature.
| 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §55 If thou cut the lyuer, therin wyll be lyttell quikens lyke flokes. |
▪ IV. quicken, v.
(ˈkwɪk(ə)n)
Forms: α. 4 quicken, -in, quikken, -in, quiken, -yn, queken, qui-, quykne, quicn-, quykene(n, qwi-, qwycken, (-kk-), qwi-, qwykyn, qwykn-, 4–5 qwyken, 5 quyknyn, 4–6 quyken, 5–6 quikin, 5–8 quickn-, 6 quycken, -yn, quyckn-, Sc. quyckyn, -kkin, quikkine, quikn-, 6– quicken. β. 4 quhykine, whiken, 5 qwhykkyn.
[f. quick a. + -en5. Cf. ON. kvikna, kykna to come to life, come into being, Sw. qvickna; Da. dial. kvægne to refresh. In Eng. the trans. sense is more usual than the intr.]
I. Transitive senses.
1. a. To give or restore life to; to make alive; to vivify or revive; to animate (as the soul the body).
| a 1300 Cursor M. 20883 Petre..a ded he quickend wit his schade. c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 344 Whenne he had qwickened lazar, he brouȝt him out of his sepulcre. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 421/1 Quyknyn [K., P. quykyn], vegeto, vivifico. 1535 Coverdale 2 Kings v. 7 Am I God then, that I can kyll and quycken agayne. 1601 Shakes. All's Well ii. i. 77 A medicine..able to breath life into a stone, Quicken a rocke. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 28 The soul that I was quickned with at birth day, is the same that I am quickned with at this day. 1730–46 Thomson Autumn 664 Still the fresh Spring finds New plants to quicken. 1819 Shelley Cenci iv. i. 189 Ill things Shall, with a spirit of unnatural life, Stir and be quickened. 1876 Morris Sigurd ii. 84 How many things shalt thou quicken, how many shalt thou slay! |
b. fig. in renderings of Biblical passages, or echoes of these, occas. with ref. to spiritual life.
| a 1300 E.E. Psalter lxxxiv. 6 God, þou turned qwycken vs sal. 1357 Lay Folks Catech. 150 [Crist] whikend [Lamb. MS. qwyknyd] us un-to lyf thurgh his risyng. 1382 Wyclif John vi. 64 It is the spirit that quykeneth, the fleysch profiteth nothing. 1513 Douglas æneis x. Prol. 128 To quykkin thy sclavys tholit schamful ded maiste fell. 1563 Winȝet tr. Vincent. Lirin. Wks. 1890 II. 23 He wald..quikin his spiritual peple afoir slane. a 1653 Binning Serm. (1845) 9 The second Adam aspired to quicken what Adam killed. |
† c. to be quickened = 6 b. Obs.
| 1599 Nashe Lenten Stuffe Wks. 1883–4 V. 268 She was now quickned, and cast away by the cruelty of æolus. 1607 Markham Caval. i. (1617) 50 Let their Mares after they are quickned, be moderately travelled or wrought. |
2. To give, add, or restore vigour to (a person or thing); to stimulate, stir up, rouse, excite, inspire. a. a person.
| 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. lxxxix. 111 Loue quickened hym day and night. 1525 Ibid. II. cx. [cvi.] 317, I am quickened so to do. 1542 N. Udall in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 7 A contynuall spurre..to pricke and to quicken me to goodnes. a 1632 T. Taylor God's Judgem. i. ii. lii. (1642) 413 You..he now quickened and stirred up to his love. 1703 Penn in Pa. Hist. Soc. Mem. IX. 271, I hope..you will be quickened to show yourselves men in that affair. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. I. xxvii. 352 We were like men driven to the wall, quickened, not depressed. 1874 Green Short Hist. viii. §5. 519 He rode through England to quicken the electors to a sense of the crisis. |
b. a feeling, faculty, action, course of things, etc. † Also with up.
| 1423 Jas. I Kingis Q. clxxxi, To quikin treuly day by day my lore. 1450–1530 Myrr. our Ladye 68 Other bokes ther be that ar made to quyken, & to sturre vp the affeccyons of the soule. 1579–80 North Plutarch (1595) 236 The first honour that valliant mindes do come vnto, doth quicken vp their appetite. 1659 Rushw. Hist. Coll. I. 538 Sir Dudley Diggs quickned his motion and spoke roundly. 1723 De Foe Col. Jack (1840) 89 This quickened my resolution. 1781 Cowper Charity 522 The frequent interjected dash Quickens a market, and helps off the trash. 1853 Maurice Proph. & Kings ix. 150 The savage impulses of the soldier became quickened. 1883 Froude Short Stud. IV. ii. iii. 194 Other conventional beliefs, too, were quickened into startling realities. |
c. absol.
| 1581 Mulcaster Positions xxxix. (1887) 215 To consider of education and learning, what is good and quickneth. 1637 Heywood Royall King ii. Wks. 1874 VI. 33 The King..quickens most where he would most destroy. a 1859 De Quincey in ‘Page’ Life (1877) I. ii. 20 Pillar of fire, that didst go before me to guide and to quicken. |
3. To kindle (a fire); to cause or help to burn up.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter xvii. 10 Coles þat before ware ded..ere kyndild and qwikynd agayn. c 1386 Chaucer Frankl. T. 322 Her desir Is to be qwykkened and liȝtned of ȝour fire. 1556 J. Heywood Spider & F. xiv. 59, I will yet once againe, quicken this cole. 1751 Affect. Narr. of Wager 105 The Fire they dress'd by was..quickned by the Timber of one of the Casks. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. III. iv. 75 While she Quickened the fire. 1887 Browning Parleyings, F. Furini xi, Let my spark Quicken your tinder. |
4. a. To make (liquor or medicine) more sharp or stimulant. ? Obs.
| 1591 Spenser Muiopotm. 196 Dull Poppie, and drink⁓quickning Setuale. 1713 Steele Guard. No. 143 ¶8 Rack⁓punch, quickned with brandy and gun-powder. 1733 Cheyne Eng. Malady ii. xi. §3 (1734) 232 Diaphoreticks..quickened with volatill Spirits. 1799 M. Underwood Diseases Children (ed. 4) I. 55 A few grains of magnesia..forms a much neater medicine (which may be quickened and warmed by the addition of a few drops of tincture of senna). |
b. To imbue (tin) with quicksilver. rare.
| 1799 [see quickening vbl. n. and ppl. a.]. 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 728 Mercury..soon unites itself with the tin, which then becomes very splendid, or, as the workmen say, is quickened. |
c. dial. To work with yeast. (Halliwell.)
5. a. To hasten, accelerate, give speed to.
| 1626 Bacon Sylva §990 You may sooner by Imagination quicken or slacke a Motion, than raise or cease it. 1691 T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. 127 In what proportion Smoothness, Sope and Tallow doth quicken [a ship's way]. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. (1869) I. i. i. 11 To facilitate and quicken their own particular part of the work. 1786 F. Burney Diary 17 July, I was only quickening my pace, when I was again stopped. 1838 Thirlwall Greece IV. 381 It had induced him to quicken his departure. 1855 Bain Senses & Int. ii. iv. §11 (1864) 275 In rapid walking, the very thoughts are quickened. |
b. To make (a curve) sharper or (a slope) steeper.
| 1711 W. Sutherland Shipbuild. Assist. 162 To Quicken the Sheer; to shorten the Radius that strikes out the Curve. 1838 Civil Engin. & Archit. Jrnl. I. 376/2 Retaining walls, or quickening the slopes, might perhaps get over the difficulty. c 1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 139 To quicken, to give anything a greater curve. |
II. Intransitive senses.
6. a. To receive life, to become living; † also, to recover life, to revive.
| 1382 Wyclif 1 Kings xvii. 22 The soule of the child is turned aȝen with ynne hym, and he aȝen quikenyde. 1530 Palsgr. 677/1, I quycken, I revyve, as a thyng dothe that fyrst doth begyn to styrre, or that was wyddered, or almoste deed. 1553 T. Wilson Rhet. 29 Hym that killeth the child so sone as it beginneth to quicken. 1604 Shakes. Oth. iv. ii. 67 As Sommer Flyes..That quicken euen with blowing. 1691 Ray Creation (1692) 74 Their Spawn would be lost in those Seas, the bottom being too cold for it to quicken there. 1823 Scott Peveril xiii, The seed which is sown shall one day sprout and quicken. 1842 Tennyson Vision of Sin 210 Below were men and horses pierced with worms, And slowly quickening into lower forms. |
| fig. 1851 Dixon W. Penn xv. (1872) 132 The germ of Pennsylvania was quickening into life. |
b. Of a female: To reach the stage of pregnancy at which the child shows signs of life. Cf. 1 c.
| 1530 Palsgr. 677/1 She quyckynned on al hallon day. 1662–3 Pepys Diary 1 Jan., She quickened at my Lord Gerard's at dinner. 1748 [see quickening vbl. n.]. 1822–34 Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) IV. 183 A woman..became pregnant, quickened and had a flow of milk in the breasts. |
| fig. 1695 Blackmore Pr. Arth. ii. 26 Barren Night did pregnant grow, And quicken'd with the World in Embrio. |
7. fig. a. To come into a state of existence or activity comparable to life. Const. to, into.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 26482 All quickens [a]gain his first penance þat tint was. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. C. 471 Þat þer quikken no cloude bifore þe cler sunne. c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. ¶474 Looke how that fir of smale gleedes that been almoost dede vnder asshen wollen quike agayn. 1435 Misyn Fire of Love 81 Þe self sawle..qwhykkynand to heuenly likyng. 1470 Paston Lett. No. 648 II. 406 The mater qwykennythe bothe ffor yowe and yowres. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 203 At this time also, the warre began to quicken in Guyan. 1821 Shelley False Laurels & True 11 The hopes that quicken..Are flowers that wither. 1829 I. Taylor Enthus. vi. 177 Countries that were quickening into freedom. a 1881 Rossetti House of Life ii, At her heart Love lay Quickening in darkness. |
b. To grow bright.
| 1712–4 Pope Rape Lock i. 144 Sees..keener lightnings quicken in her eyes. 1859 Tennyson Geraint & Enid 535 The pale and bloodless east began To quicken to the sun. 1885 B. Harte Maruja i, Meanwhile the light [of day] quickened. |
8. To become faster, to be accelerated.
| 1805 [see quickening ppl. a.]. 1857 W. Smith Thorndale iii. iv. 226 His step quickened, his countenance lighted up with joy. 1891 T. Hardy Tess xxx, Tess's breath quickened. |