Word of the Day: Quick

quick / kwik   adjective  

1. fast to develop or happen

Life seems but a quick succession of busy nothings. Jane Austen, 1775-1817  

2. done in a fast manner

The Art Snob can be recognized in the home by the quick look he gives the pictures on your walls, quick but penetrating, as though he were undressing them. Russell Lynes, 1910-1991  

3. fast to learn, think or understand

I was not a student of Wall Street, but I was a quick study. Mitch Kapor, 1950-  

4. rapid or fast, as of motion

He who is quick to borrow, is slow to pay. German Proverb  

5. moving with great speed

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Popular typing exercise, so used because it includes all 26 letters of the alphabet  

6. fast and efficient

A good fire makes a quick cook. Dutch Proverb  

7. reacting to things with speed

Quick to judge, quick to anger, slow to understand… Prejudice, fear and ignorance walk hand-in-hand. from the song ‘Witch Hunt’, lyrics by Neil Peart, 1952-  

8. capable of being prepared speedily

A pack of instant oatmeal is also good to carry because it’s a quick, nutritious meal you can make almost anywhere. Nina Agdal, 1992-  

9. of a curve or turn, sharp

There is no way to turn or have your skis carve unless you’re going down the hill leaning forward, and that puts you in a good athletic position to do whatever you want to do on your skis – make quick turns, make long turns, or absorb bumps. Ted Ligety, 1984-  

1. easily excited

A quick temper, sharp tongue, and restless spirit were always getting her into scrapes, and her life was a series of ups and downs, which were both comic and pathetic. from ‘Little Women’ by Louisa May Alcott, 1832-1888   noun  

1. living people

End of the day, the quick and the dead are the same. from ‘Lover Reborn: A Novel of the Black Dagger Brotherhood’ by J. R. Ward, 1969-  

2. the sensitive spots of flesh under fingernails or toenails

…he would have pruned off every thing that transgressed the limits of perfection; and, in the composition of verses, would often have scratched his head, and bit his nails to the quick. Horace, 65-8 BCE  

3. the vital part or heart of something

When poverty is more disgraceful than even vice, is not morality cut to the quick? Mary Wollstonecraft, 1759-1797