The Collaborative International Dictionary
Quicken \Quick"en\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. quickened; p. pr. & vb. n. Quickening.] [AS. cwician. See Quick, a.]
-
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.
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.
-
(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.
Wiktionary
vb. (en-past of: quicken)
Usage examples of "quickened".
His wheezing breath, quickened with the exertion of rising from the chair, filled the room with an aroma of stale rum, leeks, and fish.
Her breathtaking beauty quickened his very soul, stirring his mind with imaginings of what loveliness lay hidden from view.
He had of yesteryear considered his blood to be aged and thin, but now it quickened with the fervor of youth as he imagined the wealth of new markets that waited a knowing hand in the colonies.
West, quickened by him, they now saw with new eyes, heard with new ears, and relished their world exquisitely.
And now, quickened by his memory of past distress, his imagination feels the full weight of future pain and sorrow.
The sight quickened their steps, and they now flew, rather than ran, along the arched passage.
Notwithstanding his public duties, his pulses quickened as the prisoner dwelt on the different chances of the lovers, and when their final union was proclaimed, he felt his heart bound with delight.
She thought at first it was courage, for her heart quickened and her grip tightened, and something hard and excited came alive in her chest.
Once her mouth would have watered at the aroma of blackening fat, and her pace would have quickened to meet the day, but here and now she felt nothing but the hard sense of duty that had become her life.
It was with quickened speed that he trudged on toward the village, over a rutted dirt road.
His pulse-beat quickened, the body not knowing it was useless, that biology no longer had the last word in mating.
He quickened his pace, instinctively knowing what she needed and giving it to her.
He quickened his strokes and let out a muffled cry as she bit down gently on his tongue.
The thought quickened his pulse as he inhaled the spicy scent of the flowers.
Breathing quickened and hands roamed until her back was pressed against a tree, his body pinning hers with the greatest intimacy achievable while still dressed.