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quick
quick / kwik/ • adj. 1. moving fast or doing something in a short time: some children are particularly quick learners I was much quicker than he was and held him at bay for several laps | he was always quick to point out her faults. ∎ lasting or taking a short time: she took a quick look through the drawers we went to the pub for a quick drink. ∎ happening with little or no delay: prompt: children like to see quick results from their efforts. 2. (of a person) prompt to understand, think, or learn; intelligent: it was quick of him to spot the mistake. ∎ (of a person's eye or ear) keenly perceptive; alert. ∎ (of a person's temper) easily roused. • adv. inf. at a fast rate; quickly: he'll find some place where he can make money quicker | [as interj.] Get out, quick! • n. 1. (the quick) the soft, tender flesh below the growing part of a fingernail or toenail. ∎ fig. the central or most sensitive part of someone or something. 2. [as pl. n.] (the quick) archaic those who are living: the quick and the dead. PHRASES: cut someone to the quick cause someone deep distress by a hurtful remark or action. (as) quick as a flashsee flash.quick on the drawsee draw.quick with child archaic at a stage of pregnancy when movements of the fetus have been felt.DERIVATIVES: quick·ly adv.quick·ness n.ORIGIN: Old English cwic, cwicu ‘alive, animated, alert,’ of Germanic origin; related to Dutch kwiek ‘sprightly’ and German keck ‘saucy,’ from an Indo-European root shared by Latin vivus ‘alive’ and Greek bios, zōē ‘life.’ |
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Cite this article
"quick." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "quick." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-quick.html "quick." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-quick.html |
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quick
quick (arch.) living, alive OE.; lively, mobile, active; rapid, swift XIII; functionally active XIV. OE. cwic(u) = OS. quik (Du. kwik), OHG. quek (G. keck bold), ON. kvikr :- Gmc. *kwikwaz, rel. to Goth. *qius (in pl. qiwai):- *kwiwaz, f. IE. base *gwi- repr. also in L. vīvus, Lith. gývas, OSl. z̄ivū, OIr. biu, beo, Skr. jīvá- living, Gr. bíos.
Hence quick sb. the q., sensitive flesh in the body. XVI. quicken give life to; receive life XIII; make quick or quicker XVII. In earliest use — ON. kvikna (intr.). Comps. quicklime lime that has been burned but not slaked. XIV. quicksand bed of loose wet sand. XV. quickset live slips set in the ground as for a hedge XV; also adj. XVI. quicksilver mercury. OE. cwicseolfor = Du. kwiksilver, OHG. quecsilbar (G. quecksilber). ON. kviksilfr; tr. L. argentum vīvum ‘living silver’. |
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T. F. HOAD. "quick." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. T. F. HOAD. "quick." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-quick.html T. F. HOAD. "quick." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-quick.html |
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quick
quick cut someone to the quick cause someone deep distress by a hurtful remark or action (the quick, literally the soft tender flesh below the growing part of a fingernail or toenail).
the quick and the dead the living and the dead; the phrase comes from the Apostles' Creed in the Book of Common Prayer (1662). |
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ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "quick." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "quick." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-quick.html ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "quick." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-quick.html |
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Quick
Quickthose who are alive; live plants collectively. especially hawthorne; of ten used in the phrase the quick and the dead. |
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"Quick." Dictionary of Collective Nouns and Group Terms. 1985. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Quick." Dictionary of Collective Nouns and Group Terms. 1985. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-2505301194.html "Quick." Dictionary of Collective Nouns and Group Terms. 1985. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-2505301194.html |
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quick
quick •artic, brick, chick, click, crick, dick, flick, hand-pick, hic, hick, kick, lick, mick, miskick, nick, pic, pick, prick, quick, rick, shtick, sic, sick, slick, snick, spic, stick, thick, tic, tick, trick, Vic, wick
•alcaic, algebraic, Aramaic, archaic, choleraic, Cyrenaic, deltaic, formulaic, Hebraic, Judaic, Mishnaic, Mithraic, mosaic, Pharisaic, prosaic, Ptolemaic, Romaic, spondaic, stanzaic, trochaic
•logorrhoeic (US logorrheic), mythopoeic, onomatopoeic
•echoic, heroic, Mesozoic, Palaeozoic (US Paleozoic), Stoic
•Bewick
•disyllabic, monosyllabic, polysyllabic, syllabic
•choriambic, dithyrambic, iambic
•alembic
•amoebic (US amebic)
•aerobic, agoraphobic, claustrophobic, homophobic, hydrophobic, phobic, technophobic, xenophobic
•cherubic, cubic, pubic
•Arabic, Mozarabic
•acerbic • apparatchik • dabchick
•peachick
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Cite this article
"quick." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "quick." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-quick.html "quick." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-quick.html |
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