quick

—quickness, n.

/kwik/, adj., quicker, quickest, n., adv., quicker, quickest.

adj.

1. done, proceeding, or occurring with promptness or rapidity, as an action, process, etc.; prompt; immediate: a quick response.

2. that is over or completed within a short interval of time: a quick shower.

3. moving, or able to move, with speed: a quick fox; a quick train.

4. swift or rapid, as motion: a quick flick of the wrist.

5. easily provoked or excited; hasty: a quick temper.

6. keenly responsive; lively; acute: a quick wit.

7. acting with swiftness or rapidity: a quick worker.

8. prompt or swift to do something: quick to respond.

9. prompt to perceive; sensitive: a quick eye.

10. prompt to understand, learn, etc.; of ready intelligence: a quick student.

11. (of a bend or curve) sharp: a quick bend in the road.

12. consisting of living plants: a quick pot of flowers.

13. brisk, as fire, flames, heat, etc.

14. Archaic.

a. endowed with life.

b. having a high degree of vigor, energy, or activity.

n.

15. living persons: the quick and the dead.

16. the tender, sensitive flesh of the living body, esp. that under the nails: nails bitten down to the quick.

17. the vital or most important part.

18. Chiefly Brit.

a. a line of shrubs or plants, esp. of hawthorn, forming a hedge.

b. a single shrub or plant in such a hedge.

19. cut to the quick, to injure deeply; hurt the feelings of: Their callous treatment cut her to the quick.

adv.

20. quickly.

[bef. 900; ME quik lively, moving, swift; OE cwic, cwicu living; c. OS quik, G queck, keck, ON kvikr; akin to L vivus living (see VITAL), Skt jivas living, Gk bíos life (see BIO-), zoé animal life (see ZOO-)]

Syn. 1. fleet, expeditious. QUICK, FAST, SWIFT, RAPID describe speedy tempo. QUICK applies particularly to something practically instantaneous, an action or reaction, perhaps, of very brief duration: to give a quick look around; to take a quick walk. FAST and SWIFT refer to actions, movements, etc., that continue for a time, and usually to those that are uninterrupted; when used of communication, transportation, and the like, they suggest a definite goal and a continuous trip.

SWIFT, the more formal word, suggests the greater speed: a fast train; a swift message. RAPID, less speedy than the others, applies to a rate of movement or action, and usually to a series of actions or movements, related or unrelated: rapid calculation; a rapid walker. 5. abrupt, curt, short, precipitate. 7. nimble, agile, brisk. 10. See sharp.

Ant. 1, 10. slow.

Usage. The difference between the adverbial forms QUICK and QUICKLY is frequently stylistic. QUICK is more often used in short spoken sentences, especially imperative ones: Come quick! The chimney is on fire. QUICKLY is the usual form in writing, both in the preverb position (We quickly realized that attempts to negotiate would be futile) and following verbs other than imperatives (She turned quickly and left). See also slow, sure.

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