adjective, -er, -est, noun, adverb, -er, -est.| 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.
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| 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 British.
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| 19. | quickly. |
| 20. | cut to the quick, to injure deeply; hurt the feelings of: Their callous treatment cut her to the quick. |
animal life (see zoo- )
quick (kwĭk) adj. quick·er, quick·est
Quickly; promptly. [Middle English, alive, lively, quick, from Old English cwicu, alive; see gwei- in Indo-European roots.] quick'ly adv., quick'ness n. Usage Note: In speech quick is commonly used as an adverb in phrases such as Come quick. In formal writing, however, quickly is required. |
"NE swift or the now more common fast may apply to rapid motion of any duration, while in quick (in accordance with its original sense of 'live, lively') there is a notion of 'sudden' or 'soon over.' We speak of a fast horse or runner in a race, a quick starter but not a quick horse. A somewhat similar feeling may distinguish NHG schnell and rasch or it may be more a matter of local preference." [Buck]Quickie "sex act done hastily" is from 1940. Quicklime (c.1400) is loan-translation of L. calx viva.
quick (kwĭk)
n.
Sensitive or raw exposed flesh, as under the fingernails. adj. quick·er, quick·est
Pregnant.
Alive.