QUICKENINGS

Noun

quickenings

plural of quickening

Source: Wiktionary


QUICKENING

Quick"en*ing, n.

1. The act or process of making or of becoming quick.

2. (Physiol.)

Definition: The first motion of the fetus in the womb felt by the mother, occurring usually about the middle of the term of pregnancy. It has been popularly supposed to be due to the fetus becoming possessed of independent life.

QUICKEN

Quick"en, v. t. [imp. & p. p. quickened; p. pr. & vb. n. Quickening.] Etym: [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)

Definition: 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.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

17 May 2025

ANTHOZOAN

(noun) sessile marine coelenterates including solitary and colonial polyps; the medusoid phase is entirely suppressed


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