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. [ 1913 Webster ]

The mistress which I serve quickens what's dead. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Like a fruitful garden without an hedge, that quickens the appetite to enjoy so tempting a prize. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To revive; resuscitate; animate; reinvigorate; vivify; refresh; stimulate; sharpen; incite; hasten; accelerate; expedite; dispatch; speed. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

The heart is the first part that quickens, and the last that dies. Ray. [ 1913 Webster ]

And keener lightnings quicken in her eye. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

When the pale and bloodless east began
To quicken to the sun. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To move with rapidity or activity; to become accelerated; as, his pulse quickened. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who, or that which, quickens. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act or process of making or of becoming quick. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Physiol.) 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) Quitch grass. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ Probably from quick, and first applied to the aspen or some tree with quivering leaves; cf. G. quickenbaum, quizenbaum, quitschenbaum. Cf. Quitch grass. ] (Bot.) The European rowan tree; -- called also quickbeam, and quickenbeam. See Rowan tree. [ 1913 Webster ]