• IPA: /kwɪk/, [kw̥ɪk]

quick (comparative quicker, superlative quickest)

1. Moving with speed, rapidity or swiftness, or capable of doing so; rapid; fast.

   I ran to the station – but I wasn't quick enough.

   He's a quick runner.

2. Occurring in a short time; happening or done rapidly.

   That was a quick meal.

3. Lively, fast-thinking, witty, intelligent.

   You have to be very quick to be able to compete in ad-lib theatrics.

4. Mentally agile, alert, perceptive.

   My father is old but he still has a quick wit.

5. Of temper: easily aroused to anger; quick-tempered.

   • The bishop was somewhat quick with them, and signified that he was much offended.

6. (archaic) Alive, living.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981 ↗, 2 Timothy 4:1 ↗:

     the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead

   • 1633, George Herbert, The Temple

     Man is no star, but a quick coal / Of mortal fire.

   • 1874, James Thomson, The City of Dreadful Night, X

     The inmost oratory of my soul,

     Wherein thou ever dwellest quick or dead,

     Is black with grief eternal for thy sake.

7. (archaic) Pregnant, especially at the stage where the foetus's movements can be felt; figuratively, alive with some emotion or feeling.
   • c. 1595–1596, William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act V, scene ii]:

     she's quick; the child brags in her belly already: tis yours

8. Of water: flowing.
9. Burning, flammable, fiery.
10. Fresh; bracing; sharp; keen.
    • c. 1607–1608, William Shakeſpeare, The Late, And much admired Play, Called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. […]‎, London: Imprinted at London for Henry Goſſon,  […], published 1609, OCLC 78596089 ↗, [Act IV, scene i]:

      {...}} the ayre is quicke there, / And it perces and ſharpens the ſtomacke,

11. (mining, of a vein of ore) productive; not "dead" or barren

• (moving with speed) fast, speedy, rapid, swift; see also Thesaurus:speedy
• (occurring in a short time) brief, momentary, short-lived; see also Thesaurus:ephemeral
• (fast-thinking) bright, droll, keen; see also Thesaurus:witty or Thesaurus:intelligent
• (easily aroused to anger) hotheaded, rattish, short-tempered, snippish, snippy
• (alive) extant, live, vital; see also Thesaurus:alive
• (pregnant) expecting, gravid, with child; see also Thesaurus:pregnant
• (flowing) fluent, fluminous; see also Thesaurus:flowing

• (moving with speed) slow

• French: rapide
• German: schnell, geschwind, rasch
• Italian: rapido
• Portuguese: rápido, ligeiro, veloz, célere
• Russian: бы́стрый
• Spanish: rápido

• Portuguese: rápido, ligeiro
• Russian: ско́рый
• Spanish: rápido

• German: scharfsinnig
• Italian: svelto, lesto
• Portuguese: rápido, ligeiro
• Russian: прово́рный

• German: schnell von Begriff
• Portuguese: rápido, ligeiro
• Russian: смышленый

• Russian: вспы́льчивый

• French: animé, vivant
• German: quicklebendig
• Russian: живо́й

quick (comparative quicker, superlative quickest)

1. Quickly, in a quick manner.

   Get rich quick.

   Come here, quick!

   • 1689 (indicated as 1690)​, [John Locke], An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Thomas Basset, […], OCLC 153628242 ↗:

     If we consider how very quick the actions of the mind are performed.

• Russian: бы́стро

quick (plural quicks)

1. Raw or sensitive flesh, especially that underneath finger and toe nails.
2. Plants used in making a quickset hedge

   • The works […] are curiously hedged with quick.

3. The life; the mortal point; a vital part; a part susceptible to serious injury or keen feeling.

   • This test nippeth, […] this toucheth the quick.

   • How feebly and unlike themselves they reason when they come to the quick of the difference!

4. Quitchgrass.
5. (cricket) A fast bowler.

• German: Nagelbett
• Spanish: carne viva

quick (quicks, present participle quicking; past and past participle quicked)

1. (transitive) To amalgamate surfaces prior to gilding or silvering by dipping them into a solution of mercury in nitric acid.
2. (transitive, archaic, poetic) To quicken.

   • I rose as if quicked by a spur I was bound to obey.

1. Surname