▪ I. ˈquickening, n. rare—1.
= quicken n.2 So also ˈquickening-grass.
| 1765 Museum Rusticum IV. 454 Stones, quickenings, and every other thing that may hinder the growth of the flax, should be removed. Ibid. 456 Quickening grass should not be taken up. 1765 A. Dickson Treat. Agric. (ed. 2) 106 Of the first sort is the quickening-grass, or couch-grass. |
▪ II. quickening, vbl. n.
(ˈkwɪk(ə)nɪŋ)
[f. quicken v. + -ing1.]
a. The action of the vb. quicken, in various senses.
| c 1430 Pilgr. Lyf Manhode ii. cviii. (1869) 116 He hadde with inne gret quiknyng of cole. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 11 b, For the..quyckenynge of theyr reason. 1577 tr. Bullinger's Decades (1592) 45 Justification of life therefore is..a quickening or translating from death to life. 1626 Naworth Househ. Bks. (Surtees Soc.) 237 To Eyst for iij quickinings,..xviij{supd}. 1655 H. Vaughan Silex Scint., Holy Commun. i, Nothing that is, or lives, But hath his Quicknings, and reprieves. 1748 Phil. Trans. XLV. 132 After Quickening her Health became better. 1799 G. Smith Laboratory I. Pref. 6 Quickening is a singular expression to be employed in gilding. 1874 Green Short Hist. vii. §7. 419 The intellectual quickening of the age had now reached the mass of the people. 1890 Billings Med. Dict. II. 424/2 Quickening.., first sensation of movement of the foetus in a pregnant woman, occurring generally in the first or second week of the fifth month. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 377 Send us, bright one, light one, Horhorn, quickening and wombfruit. 1975 Church Times 27 June 20/5 A foetus that had not reached the time of quickening (twelve to fourteen weeks old). |
b. concr. That which quickens; hence, yeast, a quantity of yeast. dial.
| 1598 Florio, Cremóre, yeast, barme, quickning. 1790 Mrs. Wheeler Westmld. Dial. (1821) 81 Me mudder lent her a whicknin, an we wor bawn at brew. |
▪ III. quickening, ppl. a.
(ˈkwɪk(ə)nɪŋ)
[f. quicken v. + -ing2.]
That quickens, in senses of the vb.
| 1382 Wyclif 1 Cor. xv. 45 The laste Adam [is made] in to a spirit quykenynge. 1531 Frith Judgm. Tracy (1573) 80 Fayth is..the quickning power out of which all good fruites spring. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. v. 12 Quickning faith..The creeping deadly cold away did shake. 1674 J. B[rian] Harv. Home Postscr. 53, I finisht have The first part of this quickning Text. 1799 G. Smith Laboratory I. 89 A quickening water. Take one ounce of quicksilver, and as much aqua fortis [etc.]. 1805 Wordsw. Prelude iv. 1 When quickening steps Followed each other. 1870 H. Macmillan Bible Teach. Pref. 15 Bursting buds and quickening roots. |