Definition of "quick" in English

adjective

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 people or tempers) Easily aroused to anger; quick-tempered.

   • She has a very quick temper.
   • He is wont to be rather quick of temper when tired.

6. (archaic) Alive, living.

7. (archaic, of a foetus) At the stage where it can be felt to move in the uterus.

   • Whoever does any act under such circumstances that if he thereby caused death he would be guilty of culpable homicide, and does by such act cause the death of a quick unborn child, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 10 years, and shall also be liable to fine.

8. (now rare, archaic) Pregnant, especially at the stage where the foetus's movements can be felt; figuratively, alive with some emotion or feeling.

9. (archaic, of water) Flowing, not stagnant.

10. (archaic) Burning, flammable, fiery.

11. (obsolete) Fresh; bracing; sharp; keen.

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

13. (crosswording) Not cryptic.

14. Being a distinctively sensitive kind of glaciomarine clay that may behave like a watery fluid under stress.

adverb

1. Quickly, in a quick manner.

   • Get rich quick.
   • Come here, quick!

2. Answer quickly.

noun

1. Raw or sensitive flesh, especially that underneath finger and toe nails.

2. Plants used in making a quickset hedge

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

4. (with "the", archaic) Synonym of living (“those who are alive”).

   • the quick and the dead

5. Quitchgrass.

6. (cricket) A fast bowler.