Hypertext Webster Gateway: "quickening"

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Quicken \Quick"en\, 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.

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.

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.

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.

Syn: To revive; resuscitate; animate; reinvigorate; vivify;
refresh; stimulate; sharpen; incite; hasten; accelerate;
expedite; dispatch; speed.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Quickening \Quick"en*ing\, n.
1. The act or process of making or of becoming quick.

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.

From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)

quickening
n 1: the process of showing signs of life; "the quickening of
seed that will become ripe grain"
2: the stage of pregnancy at which the mother first feels
movements of the fetus
3: the act of accelerating; increasing the speed [syn: {acceleration},
{speedup}]

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