quicken: Meaning and Definition of

quick•en

1. to make more rapid; accelerate; hasten: She quickened her pace.
2. to give or restore vigor or activity to; stir up, rouse, or stimulate: to quicken the imagination.
3. to revive; restore life to: The spring rains quickened the earth.

1. to become more active, sensitive, etc.: This drug causes the pulse to quicken.
2. to become alive; receive life.
3. (of the mother) to enter that stage of pregnancy in which the fetus gives indications of life.
4. (of a fetus in the womb) to begin to manifest signs of life.