Quick"en (?), v. t. [imp. & p.
p. quickened (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
Quickening.] [AS. cwician. See Quick,
a.] 1. To make alive; to
vivify; to revive or resuscitate, as from death or an inanimate state;
hence, to excite; to, stimulate; to incite.
The mistress which I serve quickens what's
dead.
Shak.
Like a fruitful garden without an hedge, that
quickens the appetite to enjoy so tempting a
prize.
South.
2. To make lively, active, or sprightly; to
impart additional energy to; to stimulate; to make quick or rapid; to
hasten; to accelerate; as, to quicken one's steps or thoughts;
to quicken one's departure or speed.
3. (Shipbuilding) To shorten the radius
of (a curve); to make (a curve) sharper; as, to quicken the
sheer, that is, to make its curve more pronounced.
Syn. -- To revive; resuscitate; animate; reinvigorate;
vivify; refresh; stimulate; sharpen; incite; hasten; accelerate;
expedite; dispatch; speed.
Quick"en, v. i. 1.
To come to life; to become alive; to become vivified or
enlivened; hence, to exhibit signs of life; to move, as the fetus in
the womb.
The heart is the first part that quickens, and
the last that dies.
Ray.
And keener lightnings quicken in her
eye.
Pope.
When the pale and bloodless east began
To quicken to the sun.
Tennyson.
2. To move with rapidity or activity; to
become accelerated; as, his pulse quickened.
