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.
© Webster 1913.
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.
© Webster 1913.