quick time Mil.
a. A brisk rate of marching consisting of about 120 paces of at least 30 inches each in a minute (cf. double-quick).
In the British army the rate has been raised during the past two centuries (see quots.); in 1988 the rate for the light infantry was 142 paces of 33 inches each per minute.
| 1802 James Milit. Dict., Quick Step, or Quick Time, is 108 steps of 30 inches each, or 270 feet in a minute, and is the step used in all filings of divisions. Quickest Step, or Quickest Time is 120 steps of 30 inches each, or 300 feet in a minute. 1833 Regul. Instr. Cavalry i. 18 The Quick Step. The cadence of the slow pace having become..habitual to the recruits, they are..to be taught to march in ‘quick time’, which is 108 steps in a minute, each of 30 inches. 1876 Voyle & Stevenson Milit. Dict., Quick-time, a pace soldiers ordinarily march at, viz. 3·3 miles an hour. Ibid. s.v. Step, Quick step, a military step of 30 inches, with a cadence..of 116 per minute, in the British army. It constitutes what is technically called quick time in marching. |
b. quasi-adv. In quick time.
| 1816 Scott Old Mort. x, Come, come, Mrs. Janet—march, troop—quick time. 1956 in Cassidy & Le Page Dict. Jamaican Eng. (1967) 372/1 You better come here quick time!.. Him run quick⁓time an' tell him mumma. 1971 Jamaican Weekly Gleaner 3 Nov. 5/1 The real tourist types..did not miss the chance to dress quick time in tee-shirt and so forth emblazoned with ‘Miami, Florida’. |