quicken means senses relating to life or states of activity.; To put (someone or something) in a state of activity or vigour comparable to life; to excite, to rouse.
quicken is pronounced /ˈkwɪk(ə)n/.
Why “quicken” is a great word
To hasten the pace or imbue with renewed life, vigor, or animation. From Middle English quikenen, from quiken (from Old English cwician, meaning 'to bring to life, come to life') with the infinitive suffix -en. Unlike 'accelerate,' which measures a cold increase in rate, or 'vivify,' which bestows literal life, 'quicken' uniquely marries the two—a pulse of speed that is also a pulse of being. It is the first green shoot breaking the winter soil, the sudden catch in your breath at unexpected news, the way a steady drizzle sharpens into a downpour—a reminder that to move faster is, in some essential way, to become more alive.
Etymology
From Middle English quikenen (“to become alive again after dying; to raise (someone) from the dead; to regain consciousness or strength; to give vitality, revive; to regain validity; to nourish; to spare (the life of someone or something); to ignite; to illuminate; of events: to happen more quickly; of clouds: to form”) [and other forms], from quiken (“to come to life; to become alive again after dying; to give or regain vitality, revive; of a seed: to germinate, grow; to arouse (anger); to inspire; to reinforce, strengthen; to make (a substance) alchemically active; to nourish, sustain; to sharpen; to ignite; to illuminate; of news: to spread”) + -en (suffix forming the infinitive forms of verbs). Quiken is derived from Old English cwician (“to bring to life, vivify; to come to life, beco
verb
- Senses relating to life or states of activity.; To put (someone or something) in a state of activity or vigour comparable to life; to excite, to rouse.
- Senses relating to life or states of activity.; To inspire or stimulate (an action, a feeling, etc.).
- Senses relating to life or states of activity.; To stimulate or assist the fermentation of (an alcoholic beverage, dough, etc.).
- Senses relating to life or states of activity.; To give life to (someone or something never alive or once dead); to animate, to resurrect, to revive.
- Senses relating to life or states of activity.; To make or help (something) to burn.e.g.“[…] she
Quickened the fire and laid the board, […]”
- Senses relating to life or states of activity.; To make (a drug, liquor, etc.) more effective or stimulating.
- Senses relating to life or states of activity.; Of a pregnant woman: to be in the state of reaching the stage of pregnancy at which the movements of the foetus are first felt.
- Senses relating to life or states of activity.; To take on a state of activity or vigour comparable to life; to be excited or roused.e.g.“Born with her life, creature of poignant thirst
And exquisite hunger, at her heart Love lay
Quickening in darkness, till a voice that day
Cried on him, and the bonds of birth were burst.”
- Senses relating to life or states of activity.; To grow bright; to brighten.
- Senses relating to life or states of activity.; Of an alcoholic beverage, dough, etc.: to ferment.
- Senses relating to life or states of activity.; Of a pregnant woman: to first feel the movements of the foetus, or reach the stage of pregnancy at which this takes place; of a foetus: to begin to move.
- Senses relating to life or states of activity.; To give life; to make alive.
- Senses relating to life or states of activity.; To come back to life, to receive life.
- Senses relating to life or states of activity.; To inspire or stimulate.
- Senses relating to speed.; To make (something) quicker or faster; to hasten, speed up.
- To apply quicksilver (mercury) to (something); to combine (something) with quicksilver; to quicksilver.
noun
- In full quicken tree: the European rowan, rowan, or mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia).
- Synonym of couch grass (“a species of grass, Elymus repens”); also (chiefly in the plural), the underground rhizomes of this, and sometimes other grasses.
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