Quick Definition

kwĭk
quicker, quickest
adjective
quicker, quickest
Moving or functioning rapidly and energetically; speedy.
An animal that is quick enough to escape most predators.
American Heritage
Rapid; swift.
A quick walk.
Webster's New World
Learning, thinking, or understanding with speed and dexterity; bright.
A quick mind.
American Heritage
Perceiving or responding with speed and sensitivity; keen.
Quick reflexes.
American Heritage
Acting swiftly.
A quick worker.
Webster's New World
noun
The sensitive flesh under a toenail or fingernail.
Webster's New World
The most personal and sensitive aspect of the emotions.
The remark cut her to the quick.
American Heritage
The deepest feelings or sensibilities.
Cut to the quick by the insult.
Webster's New World
The living.
The quick and the dead.
American Heritage
The vital core; the essence.
Got to the quick of the matter.
American Heritage
adverb
Quickly; rapidly.
Webster's New World

(colloquial) With speed, quickly.

Get rich quick.
Come here, quick!
Wiktionary
verb
To animate; invigorate.
Webster's New World
idiom
the quick
  • those who are alive; the living
Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Quick

Noun

Singular:
quick
Plural:
quicks

Adjective

Base Form:
quick
Comparative:
quicker
Superlative:
quickest

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Quick

  • the quick

Origin of Quick

  • From Middle English quik or quic, from Old English cwic (“alive"), from Proto-Germanic *kwikwaz, from Proto-Indo-European *gÊ·ih₃wós (“alive"), from *gÊ·ey- (“to live"), *gÊ·eih₃w- (“to live"). Cognate with Dutch kwik and kwiek, German keck, Swedish kvick; and (from Indo-European) with Ancient Greek βίος (bios, “life"), Latin vivus, Lithuanian gývas (“alive"), Latvian dzÄ«vs (“alive"), Russian живой (živoj), Welsh byw (“alive"), Irish beo (“alive"), biathaim (“nourish"), Kurdish jîn (“to live") and jiyan (“life"), giyan (“soul"), can (“soul"), Sanskrit जीव (jÄ«va, “living").

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English alive, lively, quick from Old English cwicu alive gwei- in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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