quicken.
Senses relating to life or states of activity.
Meaning & usage
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.
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.
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.
Senses relating to speed. To shorten the radius of (a curve); to make (a curve) sharper, or (an incline) steeper.
to quicken the sheer, that is, to make its curve more pronounced
Senses relating to speed. To become quicker or faster.
My heartbeat quickened when I heard him approach.
Where this word comes from
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, become living; to quicken”), from cwic (“alive, live, living; mentally agile; intelligent, keen”) (ultimately from Proto-Germanic *kwikwaz (“alive; lively; quick”) and Proto-Indo-European *gʷeyh₃- (“to live”)) + -ian (suffix forming verbs from adjectives and nouns). The English word may be analysed as quick (“moving with swiftness; occurring in a short time; (archaic) alive, living; (archaic) pregnant”) + -en (suffix attached to some adjectives forming transitive verbs meaning ‘to make [adjective]’). Cognates * Danish kvikne (“to quicken, revive”) * Icelandic kvikna (“to ignite; to turn on”) * Swedish kvickna (“to revive”)
To apply quicksilver (mercury) to (something); to combine (something) with quicksilver; to quicksilver.
Where this word comes from
From quick(silver) (“mercury”) + -en (suffix forming verbs from adjectives and nouns).
In full quicken tree: the European rowan, rowan, or mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia).
Where this word comes from
From Middle English quiken (“(chiefly in place names) probably the European rowan or mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia), and possibly also the aspen (Populus tremula), juniper (genus Juniperus, specifically the common juniper (Juniperus communis)), or service tree (Sorbus domestica)”), possibly from Old English cwician (“to bring to life, vivify; to come to life, become living; to quicken”) (see etymology 1).
Synonym of couch grass (“a species of grass, Elymus repens”); also (chiefly in the plural), the underground rhizomes of this, and sometimes other grasses.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English quiken (“couch grass (Elymus repens); a leguminous plant, vetch”) [and other forms], a variant of quich, quik (“couch grass (Elymus repens); a leguminous plant, vetch”) [and other forms] (whence modern English quick, quitch (“couch grass, quitchgrass”); the -en element remains unexplained), from Old English cwiċe (“couch grass”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *kwikwaz (“alive; lively; quick”); see further at etymology 1.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.