quick: Meaning and Definition of

quick

Pronunciation: (kwik), [key]
— adj., n., adv., -er, -est, -er, -est.
—adj.
  1. done, proceeding, or occurring with promptness or rapidity, as an action, process, etc.; prompt; immediate: a quick response.
  2. that is over or completed within a short interval of time: a quick shower.
  3. moving, or able to move, with speed: a quick fox; a quick train.
  4. swift or rapid, as motion: a quick flick of the wrist.
  5. easily provoked or excited; hasty: a quick temper.
  6. keenly responsive; lively; acute: a quick wit.
  7. acting with swiftness or rapidity: a quick worker.
  8. prompt or swift to do something: quick to respond.
  9. prompt to perceive; sensitive: a quick eye.
  10. prompt to understand, learn, etc.; of ready intelligence: a quick student.
  11. (of a bend or curve) sharp: a quick bend in the road.
  12. consisting of living plants: a quick pot of flowers.
  13. brisk, as fire, flames, heat, etc.
    1. endowed with life.
    2. having a high degree of vigor, energy, or activity.
—n.
  1. living persons: the quick and the dead.
  2. the tender, sensitive flesh of the living body, esp. that under the nails: nails bitten down to the quick.
  3. the vital or most important part.
    1. a line of shrubs or plants, esp. of hawthorn, forming a hedge.
    2. a single shrub or plant in such a hedge.
  4. to injure deeply; hurt the feelings of: Their callous treatment cut her to the quick.
—adv.
  1. quickly.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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