ˈquickbeam Obs. exc. dial.
[App. f. quick a. + beam, but the precise force of the adj. is not clear: cf. G. queck- and quickenbaum (also quitz-, quitzen-, quitschenbaum) service-tree. The name belongs to the south of England.]
= quicken n.1
In OE. glosses, cwicbeam usually renders L. cariscus, which seems to be otherwise unknown, and is perh. an error for tamariscus (cf. quot. 1587 below).
| a 700 Epinal Gloss. 238 Cariscus, cuicbeam. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 66 Þorn, æsc, cwicbeam. c 1050 Ags. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 423/23 Iuniperum, quicbeam. 1533 Elyot Cast. Helthe (1541) 59 Purgers of melancolye..Bourage: Hartis tongue: Quickbeme. 1562 [see quicken n.1]. 1578 Lyte Dodoens vi. lii. 727 The barke of one kinde of Sorbus (whiche is our Quickbeme). 1579 Langham Gard. Health (1633) 628 The barke of the roots of heath may be vsed in stead of the barke of the root of Tamariske, rather then the barke of quickebeame. 1731 Miller Gard. Dict., Sorbus, The wild Service or Quickbeam. 1836 Bray Descr. Tamar & Tavy vii. 122 Oaks..interspersed with what is called in Devonshire the quick-beam, or mountain-ash. 1873 E. O'Curry Lect. Ancient Irish II. 213 Let them cut down and carry out loads of the quickbeam. 1884 Jefferies Red Deer xii. 112 In the Exmoor country the mountain-ash is called the quick-beam. |
| attrib. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 78 Wyl on wætere æscrinde, cwicbeam rinde. 1562 Turner Herbal ii. (1568) 59 b, The quikbem tre which is a kynde of sorbus. 1587 L. Mascall Govt. Cattle, Hogges (1627) 263 Tamarix, which as I thinke, is called in the English quick-beame wood. 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 324 Quickbeam-tree, Sorbus. |