Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Quicken?

\Quick"en\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {quickened}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Quickening}.] [AS. cwician. See {Quick}, a.] 1. To make alive; to vivify; to revive or resuscitate, as from death or an inanimate state; hence, to excite; to, stimulate; to incite. The mistress which I serve quickens what's dead. --Shak. Like a fruitful garden without an hedge, that quickens the appetite to enjoy so tempting a prize. -- South. 2. To make lively, active, or sprightly; to impart additional energy to; to stimulate; to make quick or rapid; to hasten; to accelerate; as, to quicken one's steps or thoughts; to quicken one's departure or speed. 3. (Shipbuilding) To shorten the radius of (a curve); to make (a curve) sharper; as, to quicken the sheer, that is, to make its curve more pronounced. Syn: To revive; resuscitate; animate; reinvigorate; vivify; refresh; stimulate; sharpen; incite; hasten; accelerate; expedite; dispatch; speed.
\Quick"en\, v. i. 1. To come to life; to become alive; to become vivified or enlivened; hence, to exhibit signs of life; to move, as the fetus in the womb. The heart is the first part that quickens, and the last that dies. -- Ray. And keener lightnings quicken in her eye. --Pope. When the pale and bloodless east began To quicken to the sun. --Tennyson. 2. To move with rapidity or activity; to become accelerated; as, his pulse quickened.