Forms: see QUICK a. (Also comp. 3 cwicluker, 5 qwyklyar, qwhykliar; sup. qwhikestly, 6 quyklyst.) [f. QUICK a. + -LY2 Cf. ON. kvikliga.]
† 1. In a living or lively manner; with animation or vigor; also, with strong feeling, sensitively. Obs.
c. 1000. Ags. Ps. (Th.), cxviii. 37. Me on soðne weʓ þinne … læde cwiculice.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 6722. Be ȝe doughty, & lereþ of armes, & quykly defende ȝow fro harmes.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. II. 251. Men shulden … do quycly wiþ þer lippis bi resoun of Goddis cause.
1435. Misyn, Fire of Love, 77. I suld more Ioy or ellis qwyklyar synge.
c. 1440. Hylton, Scala Perf. (W. de W., 1494), II. xxviii. Suche a man … is soo quyckely and soo felyngly inspired.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., I. ix. 47. It is quikli and smertli spoken.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., IX. 153. Al his speiking euer taisted of heavinlines … to … steir thame up quiklier, quha war in the gud way.
1738. Warburton, Div. Legat., II. iv. (R.). It was proper to represent a perfect lawgiver as quickly touched with all the affections of humanity.
1800. in Spirit Pub. Jrnls., IV. 340. Ministers of state have a right to feel rather quickly upon the subject of character.
† b. With quickness of perception. Obs.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 7782. By alle þe costes quykly to wake Þat no Saxoyn on ȝow aryue.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, C viij b. Of sharpenesse of hir corage and of hir lokyng quicly.
1587. Golding, De Mornay, xiv. 217. There are beasts which do heere, see, smel, taste, and feele much better and quicklier than man doth.
† c. In a life-like manner; to the life. Obs.
c. 1477. Caxton, Jason, 84. An ymage of fyn golde so quickly made after the facon of appollo that it semed proprely his persone.
c. 1525. Skelton, Garl. Laurel, 592. A lybbard,… As quikly towchyd as it were flesshe and bones. Ibid. (a. 1529), P. Sparowe, 1121. Handes soft as sylke … That are so quyckely vayned.
a. 1605. Bankis Helicon, 41, in Montgomerie’s Poems (1887), 274. Not abill, in tabill, With colours competent, So quiklie or liklie A form to represent.
2. Rapidly, with haste or speed.
a. Describing the rate of progress in a motion, action, or process, without consideration of the time at which it begins and ends.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 3455. His folc quicliche to þe bataile sscet.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 1414. Sum braidis to þar bowis … Quethirs out quarels quikly betwene.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 119. We may fele our pulses bete quikly and continually.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. V., 50. He … folowed so quickely that the Frenchmen turnyng to flyght, ranne [etc.].
1829. Landor, Imag. Cong., Marvel & Bp. Parker, Wks. 1853, II. 111/1. We … throw them down in the dirt to make them follow us the quicklier.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., II. i. 226. The wings of the small insect vibrate more quickly than those of the larger one.
b. Denoting that the whole action or process is begun and ended within a comparatively short space of time.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 270. Ich chulle gon nu slepen & arisen nunon, & don cwicluker þen nu þet ich schulde don nu.
c. 1420. Pallad. on Husb., VI. 122. So smyte hem of, quycly that hit be do.
1435. Misyn, Fire of Love, 81. Now qwhykliar, now slawlyer, it warmes.
1544. Praer, Regim. Lyfe (1553), E iij. A little good wine … is the chiefe thing that quickliest restoreth him.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., I. 95. Breid wil thay make quiklier … [in this way] nor vthirwyse.
1629. Earle, Microcosm., High-spirited Man (Arb.), 92. A man quickly fired, and quickly laid downe with satisfaction.
1677. Johnson, in Ray’s Corr. (1848), 128. Possibly their stomach may digest very quickly.
1747. Wesley, Prim. Physick (1762), 117. This quickly heals even cut Veins and Sinews.
1811. A. T. Thomson, Lond. Disp. (1818), 607. On this account decoctions should be quickly made.
1861. Flor. Nightingale, Nursing, 41. Leave the sick room quickly and come into it quickly, not suddenly, nor with a rush.
c. Denoting that there is little or no interval between a given point in time and the doing of an act or happening of an event (freq. also implying a or b); without delay; very soon, shortly.
c. 1205. Lay., 4697. He … bad hine quicliche aȝeuen him his quene.
c. 1330. Arth. & Merl., 7809 (Kölbing). Soriandes … oȝain ferd For to taken quiclike þe children.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. XXI. 76. Quikliche cam a cacchepol, and craked a-two here legges.
1490. Caxton, Eneydos, xxvi. 94. Aryse vp quykly without taryenge.
1539. Taverner, Erasm. Prov. (1545), 25. He gyueth twyse, yt gyueth quyckelye.
1593. Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., IV. i. 132. They are alreadie, or quickly will be landed. Ibid. (1605), Macb., IV. iii. 200. If it be mine Keepe it not from me, quickly let me haue it.
1666. Bunyan, Grace Abound., § 29. But quickly after this, I fell in company with one poor man.
1779–81. Johnson, L. P., Mallet, Wks. 1787, IV. 282. The series of great men, quickly to be exhibited.
1847. Mrs. A. Kerr, Hist. Servia, 308. Retaliation and vengeance quickly followed.
1888. Pall Mall Gaz., 12 Dec., 12/1. Quickly afterwards a Conservative member … carried it off.
3. Used with ppl. adjs., as quickly-aging, gone, -growing, -speaking, working.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, Table Eng. Names, Quickly gone flower, that is Uenice Mallow.
1866. Odling, Anim. Chem., 50. A quickly-growing leafy plant.
1870. W. D. Christie, in Dryden’s Wks. (Globe), p. xv. An active and quickly working brain.
1874. Lisle Carr, Jud. Gwynne, I. i. 44. The quickly-speaking eyes of the dashing warrior.
