# quick

Pronunciation: say "KWIK" /kwɪk/

## Adjective

1. Happening or done in a short amount of time.
   - Simple: Taking only a short time to happen or finish.
   - _They reached a quick decision and signed the contract._
   - _A quick glance at the schedule showed the meeting had moved._
2. Moving or able to move with great speed; rapid or fast.
   - Simple: Moving fast, or able to move fast.
   - _The fox was too quick for the hounds and vanished into the woods before they reached the hedge._
   - _Our new puppy is so quick that none of the children can catch her when she races around the backyard._
4. Apt to act at once and without hesitation, often too much so; followed by to and a verb.
   - Simple: Ready to do something right away without stopping to think, often too ready.
   - _Critics were quick to dismiss the film before it had even opened._
   - _Don't be so quick to judge someone you've only just met._
5. Able to think, understand, or respond fast; clever, alert, and witty.
   - Simple: Clever and sharp, able to think and understand things fast.
   - _Her quick mind grasped the theory after one explanation._
   - _The detective was quick, noticing the clue everyone else missed._
7. Easily aroused to anger; quick-tempered.
   - Simple: Getting angry very easily.
   - _Quick to anger, he slammed the door at the slightest annoyance._
   - _Her quick temper made the staff careful with their words._
12. In crosswords, using straightforward clues rather than cryptic ones.
   - Simple: In crosswords, having simple clues instead of tricky ones.
   - _Beginners often start with the quick crossword before trying cryptics._
   - _A quick clue gives a direct definition rather than wordplay._
13. Of a sensitive glaciomarine clay: liable to lose its strength suddenly and flow like a liquid when disturbed.
   - Simple: Of clay, able to suddenly turn into a runny liquid when shaken or stressed.
   - _Much of the valley sits on quick clay, which can turn to liquid without warning when the ground is disturbed._
   - _Engineers avoided the site because the soil there was quick and prone to sudden collapse._

## Adverb

3. Quickly or without delay, also used on its own to urge someone to hurry.
   - Simple: Fast or without waiting. It is also said alone to tell someone to hurry.
   - _Get over here quick before the rain starts._
   - _She read the note quick and stuffed it in her pocket._

## Noun

6. The raw, sensitive flesh beneath the fingernails and toenails.
   - Simple: The soft, sensitive skin under a fingernail or toenail.
   - _Trimming too close to the quick can make the toe bleed._
   - _The groomer was careful not to clip the quick of the dog's claw._
8. The most vital or sensitive part, where injury or feeling cuts deepest.
   - Simple: The deepest, most tender part of someone's feelings or body.
   - _The public insult wounded the old soldier to the quick._
   - _Her mentor's cold dismissal cut her to the quick._
11. In cricket, a fast bowler who relies on the speed of delivery.
   - Simple: In cricket, a bowler who sends the ball down very fast.
   - _The captain opened the attack with his most hostile quick._
   - _Australia's lineup featured three genuine quicks._
16. Young living plants, especially hawthorn, used to form a quickset hedge.
   - Simple: Young living plants, usually hawthorn, set in the ground to grow into a hedge.
17. Couch grass; a persistent creeping grass that spreads through tough underground stems.
   - Simple: A creeping weedy grass that spreads by tough underground stems and is hard to clear away.
   - _The whole bed was choked with quick by midsummer._
   - _He spent the afternoon digging quick out of the vegetable patch._

## Verb

21. To prepare a metal surface for gilding or silvering by dipping it in a solution of mercury and nitric acid so the coating will hold.
   - Simple: To coat a metal surface with mercury before adding gold or silver.

## Noun

9. Those who are alive; the living. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: People who are alive, not dead.
   - _Every Sunday the congregation recited the old creed, which speaks of judging the quick and the dead._
   - _She imagined spirits wandering unseen among the quick._

## Adjective

10. Living; having life rather than being dead. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: Still alive and living, not dead or lifeless.
14. Of a fetus, at the stage when its movements can be felt; of a woman, pregnant, especially at this stage. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: An old word for an unborn baby that has grown enough to be felt moving, or for a woman carrying one.
15. Of water: flowing and fresh rather than still or stagnant. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: Of water, moving and fresh, not still or standing.
18. Burning, fiery, or readily flammable. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: Burning, or easily set on fire.
20. Fresh, bracing, sharp, or keen: stimulating to the senses. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Fresh and sharp in a way that feels bracing.

## Verb

19. To give life to something, or to rouse it into motion and activity. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: To bring something to life or stir it into action.

## Other meanings

- (adjective) Of a vein of ore: productive, yielding ore rather than being dead or barren.

## Origin

From Middle English quik, from Old English cwic ("alive"), which traces back through Proto-Germanic *kwikwaz to the Proto-Indo-European root *gʷeyh₃- ("to live"). It is related to German keck, Danish kvik, Swedish kvick, and, through Indo-European, to Ancient Greek bíos ("life") and Latin vivus.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/quick (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).