Quiken

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Archaic word meaning to come alive, become animated, or be restored to vigor after a period of dullness
2. An old verb describing the act of waking up to life again or regaining energy and spirit
3. Obsolete term for becoming vivid, lively, and vital once more after lying dormant or lifeless

Etymology: "Quicken" is a verb with a surprisingly physical starting point: before it meant to speed up or revive, it meant simply to be alive. The Old English "cwician" was the verb for living, and it sits in the same family as "cwic," the adjective for alive, which survives in the phrase "the quick and the dead." The sense of becoming alive again, or coming back to life, came later, and the modern "quicken" still carries that idea in its figurative uses, as when a conversation or a sense of hope quickens. Speech, Old English, and the wider Germanic family give the word its deep roots, and the form has changed little since the 1100s, when it is first recorded in English with the sense of giving life or reviving. The -en ending marks it as a verb formed from the adjective, the same pattern found in "soften" or "deepen," so the word is essentially "quick" turned into an action.

Synonyms: quicken, revive, animate, invigorate, stimulate

Antonyms: deaden, numb, dull