quick

quick [kwik]

adj.

[ME quik, lively, alive < OE cwicu, living: see BIO-]

1. Archaic living; alive

2.

a) rapid; swift [a quick walk]

b) done with promptness; prompt [a quick reply]

c) acting swiftly [a quick worker]

3. lasting only a moment [a quick look]

4. prompt to understand or learn [a quick mind]

5. sensitive; acutely perceptive [a quick sense of smell]

6. easily stirred; fiery [a quick temper]

7. sharply curved [a quick turn]

8. Archaic pregnant

adv.

quickly; rapidly

n.

1. the living, esp. in the quick and the dead

2. the sensitive flesh under a toenail or fingernail

3. the deepest feelings or sensibilities [cut to the quick by the insult]

vt.

Archaic to animate; invigorate

quickly

adv.

quickness

n.

SYN.- QUICK implies ability to respond rapidly as an innate rather than a developed faculty [a quick mind ]; PROMPT stresses immediate response to a demand as resulting from discipline, practice, etc. or from willingness [prompt to obey, a prompt acceptance ]; READY also implies preparation or willingness and, in another sense, connotes fluency, expertness, etc. [a ready sympathy, jest, etc. ]; APT¹, in this connection, implies superior intelligence or a special talent as the reason for quickness of response [an apt pupil ] -ANT. SLOW