Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Quicken

Quicken , transitive verb

[Anglo-Saxon 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. — Shakespeare
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.

Quicken , intransitive verb

1.
To come to life; to become alive; to become vivified or enlivened; hence, to exhibit signs of life; to move, as the fetus in the womb.
The heart is the first part that quickens, and the last that dies. — Ray
And keener lightnings quicken in her eye. — Pope
When the pale and bloodless east began To quicken to the sun. — Tennyson
2.
To move with rapidity or activity; to become accelerated; as, his pulse quickened.