arch. Forms: 1 cwic-, cwyc-, cucian, 3 quikie, 5 quykee (?); 2 quiken, 4 quik(e, quyk(ke, 4–5 quyke, 5 qwyk, queke, quek-, qvyk-, whykyn, 5–6 quycke, 6 quicke, 4, 7– quick. [OE. cwician:—*cwicôjan, f. cwic QUICK a., = OS. quikôn; properly intransitive, but even in OE. also used transitively, there being no causative form corresponding to OHG. quichan, quicken. In common use from c. 1300–1450, after which examples are very rare.]
† 1. intr. Of persons, animals, and plants, or their parts: To come to life; to revive. Obs. = QUICKEN v. 6.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., II. 338. Smire mid þa saran limu; hie cwiciaþ sona.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 177. To-ȝenes sumere alle moren quiken, and eorðe and trewes growen.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 476/485. Miȝhte þis wumman quikie a-ȝein; and liuen and hire sturie?
c. 1425. Cursor M., 20883 (Trin.). A ded mon quyked bi his shade.
c. 1520. L. Andrewe, Noble Lyfe, in Babees Bk. (1868), 234. Whan she feleth her yonges quycke, or stere in her body.
fig. c. 1000. Ælfric, Hom., I. 494. Se synfulla mid godcundre onbryrdnysse cucaþ.
† b. Of a firebrand or fire: To kindle, begin to burn. Obs. rare.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 81. Þe brond þe is al aquenched … ne quikeð he neure.
c. 1384. Chaucer, H. Fame, III. 988. As fire ys wont to quyk and goo. Ibid. (c. 1386), Knt.’s T., 1477. Oon of the fyres queynte And quyked agayn.
† c. Of a rumor: To arise, spread. Obs. rare–1.
c. 1425. Cursor M., 17476 (Trin.). Wo was hem … whenne þis tiþing bigon to quyk.
2. † a. trans. To give or restore life to. Obs. = QUICKEN v. 1.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., John v. 21. Suæ se fæder a-uæcceð ða deado & cuicað, suæ æc ðe sunu ðaðe [he] wil cwicað.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 8622. Þe barn to fir in barm sco bar, And wel sco wend to quik it þar.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XV. 23. ‘The whiles I quykke the corps,’ quod he, ‘called am I Anima.’
c. 1440. Capgrave, Life St. Kath., IV. 1801. Whan to the body he cam it for to queke.
1447. Bokenham, Seyntys (Roxb.), 85. I … beseche for thi dede man Qwyk hym ageyne lord.
fig. c. 1000. Ags. Ps. (Th.), cxviii. 50. Me þin spræc spedum cwycade.
c. 1430. Lydg., Min. Poems (Percy Soc.), 177. Pray we to Crist … To quyke a figure in oure conscience.
b. To give or restore vigor to; to stir up, inspire, etc. Now rare. = QUICKEN v. 2.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 25581. Þou … quicked vr hertes, suete iesu.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 13247. Þe ton quiked þe toþer to lyue, þe Romayns to greue, fast gon þey stryue.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Pars. T., ¶ 462. Ire … is the feruent blood of man yquyked in his herte.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., II. xv. 237. Forto quykee [sic] in hem the mynde … of the bifore seid thingis.
1567. Drant, Horace, Ep., II. i. G vij. That poet … That can stere vp my passions, or quicke my sprytes at all.
1615. Albumazar, I. ii. in Hazl., Dodsley, XI. 308. Your love sir, like strong water … quicks your feeble limbs.
1898. T. Hardy, Wessex Poems, 188. That swift sympathy With living love Which quicks the world.
† c. To kindle (a fire). Obs. rare. = QUICKEN 3.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, III. 484 (435). Pandarus to quyke alwey þe fyr Was euere y-lyk prest and dyligent. Ibid. (c. 1386), Frankl. T., 322. Hire [the moon’s] desire Is to be quiked and lighted of your [the sun’s] fire.
