quicken
IPA: kwˈɪkʌn
noun
- (chiefly Ireland, Northern England) In full quicken tree: the European rowan, rowan, or mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia).
- (chiefly Midlands (northern), Northern England, Northern Ireland, Scotland) Synonym of couch grass (“a species of grass, Elymus repens”); also (chiefly in the plural), the underground rhizomes of this, and sometimes other grasses.
verb
- Senses relating to life or states of activity.
- (transitive)
- To put (someone or something) in a state of activity or vigour comparable to life; to excite, to rouse.
- To inspire or stimulate (an action, a feeling, etc.).
- To stimulate or assist the fermentation of (an alcoholic beverage, dough, etc.).
- (literary, also figuratively) To give life to (someone or something never alive or once dead); to animate, to resurrect, to revive.
- (archaic) To make or help (something) to burn.
- (obsolete)
- To make (a drug, liquor, etc.) more effective or stimulating.
- (passive voice) 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.
- (intransitive)
- To take on a state of activity or vigour comparable to life; to be excited or roused.
- To grow bright; to brighten.
- Of an alcoholic beverage, dough, etc.: to ferment.
- (also figuratively) 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.
- (literary, also figuratively)
- To give life; to make alive.
- To come back to life, to receive life.
- (rare) To inspire or stimulate.
- Senses relating to speed.
- To make (something) quicker or faster; to hasten, speed up.
- (construction, nautical (shipbuilding), archaic) To shorten the radius of (a curve); to make (a curve) sharper, or (an incline) steeper.
- (intransitive) To become quicker or faster.
- (transitive, rare) To apply quicksilver (mercury) to (something); to combine (something) with quicksilver; to quicksilver.
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Examples of "quicken" in Sentences
- What makes it quicken
- The project quickens as it goes.
- Now the pace of development quickened.
- The mountebank quickened his footsteps.
- The result quickens the pace of the game.
- They also quickened the pace of the texts.
- The music crescendoes as the pace quickens.
- Her pace quickens as she approaches her home.
- China's exports quicken, easing growth fears.
- Pick up the phone and call quicken loans, ask for Bryan B.
- After nationalisation in 1948, the pace of rundown quickened.
- And just the thought of taking her to bed made his blood quicken and his good sense vanish.
- Gandhi said that the purpose of nonviolent action is to "quicken" the conscience of humankind.
- Dictionary, to "quicken" means "to reach the stage of pregnancy at which the child shows signs of life."
- Blue Coat began life in 1996 as CacheFlow Inc., which sold appliances to businesses that quicken Web-page delivery, among other things.
- We shall not 'quicken' our fellows unless we 'die,' either literally or by the not less real martyrdom of rigid self-crucifixion and suppression.
- In most factories it is usual to "quicken" the objects to be silvered before placing them in the electrolysis vats, because the deposit is said to adhere better in consequence of this treatment.