quick, noun

Forms:
Also with initial capital.
Origin:
English, AfrikaansShow more Special sense of general English quick, quick grass couch-grass; influenced by Afrikaans kweek, kweekgras, see kweek.
In full quick grass.
1. Any of several species of creeping grass of the Poaceae, especially a. the sturdy and often troublesome couch-grass Cynodon dactylon (subfamily Chlorodoideae); common quick or fine quick, see sense 2; quagga quick, see quagga sense 2; small quick, see sense 2; and b. buffalo grass (sense 1 b), Stenotaphrum secundatum. Cf. kweek sense a.
1838 J.E. Alexander Exped. into Int. II. 89Sometimes half way up to the knee in sand, and with our feet scorched with the heat, stung with the quick grass, and bruised with the baked clay, we reached the tent.
1841 J. Collett Diary. II. 30 Apr.All the quick Grass & much of the other destroyed by the Locust.
1896 R. Wallace Farming Indust. of Cape Col. 100The grass which forms the closest covering in the veld..is the small couch grass or quick, of light cultivated soils — the dúb grass of India, Cynodon dactylon,..called Bermuda grass in Australia.
1896 R. Wallace Farming Indust. of Cape Col. 441The quick grass..gives a great deal of trouble while the work of ploughing progresses, if the implement be not of a shape which will overcome it.
1917 R. Marloth Dict. of Common Names of Plants 53Kweek,..Employed now for several plants with a creeping rhizome, mostly troublesome weeds in lands and gardens. E[nglish]: ‘Couch-grass, Quick’.
1931 E.P. Phillips Afr. Grasses 79Quick grass. Cynodon Dactylon; C. incompletus; Stenotaphrum secundatum.
1957 Handbk for Farmers (Dept of Agric.) II. 798The soil should be thoroughly and carefully prepared..to ensure that most perennial weeds, such as quick-grass (Cynodon spp.) are destroyed.
1969 E. Roux Grass: Story of Frankenwald 161The wild Cynodon dactylon..is popularly known in South Africa as ‘kweek’ or ‘quick’, while to the Americans it is Bermuda grass or devil grass.
1973 F.J. Veldman in Std Encycl. of Sn Afr. VIII. 603It is known that almost all quick-grasses (Cynodon spp.)..may contain dangerous quantities of cyanogenetic glucosides under certain climatic conditions.
2. With distinguishing epithet designating a particular species of grass:
coarse quick, buffalo grass (sense 1 b), Stenotaphrum secundatum;
common quick or fine quick, Cynodon dactylon (see sense 1 a);
grove quick, buffalo grass (sense 1 b), Stenotaphrum secundatum;
Karroo quick, Karroo quick grass, see Karoo sense 3;
quagga quick, see quagga sense 2;
red quick, Transvaal kweekgras (see Transvaal), Cynodon hirsutus;
sand quick, Schmidtia pappophoroides (subfamily Chlorodoideae);
seaside quick, buffalo grass (sense 1 b), Stenotaphrum secundatum;
small quick, C. dactylon (see sense 1 a);
Transvaal quick, see Transvaal.
1917 R. Marloth Dict. of Common Names of Plants 53Grove [quick], Stenotaphrum glabrum, also called Coarse quick, Coarse couch-grass, Buffalo-grass.
1935 J.W. Mathews in Jrnl of Botanical Soc. of S. Afr. XXI. 11Their (sc. imported seeds’) failure has been general, and back in the nineties of the last century the local grasses, Coarse Quick and, occasionally Fine Quick were being used.
1955 L.K.A. Chippindall in D. Meredith et al. Grasses & Pastures 12Well known examples of grasses that are cultivated extensively for..these purposes are Kikuyu grass..and Common Quick grass (Cynodon dactylon varieties).
1912 S. Afr. Agric. Jrnl Aug. 173 (Pettman)This idea (sc. that lamziekte is caused by eating wilted grass) seems to have originated among the Batlapings, some of whom associate the disease with the fine quick grass (Cynodon incompletus).
1935 J.W. Mathews in Jrnl of Botanical Soc. of S. Afr. XXI. 12The Bermuda grass is our Fine Quick (Cynodon dactylon), and is even more widely spread over the globe than the Coarse Quick.
1970 E.G.B. Hardy Informant, Cape Town, Western CapeFine quick, coarse quick = names given to lawn grasses correctly called ‘Kweek’.
1991 G.E. Gibbs Russell et al. Grasses of Sn Afr. 97Cynodon hirsutus. Red quick grass.
1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms 424Sand quick, A Bechuanaland name for Schmidtia bulbosa.
1918 J.W. Bews Grasses & Grasslands of S. Afr. 160Schmidtia bulbosa. Sand Quick Grass.
1992 F.P. Van Oudtshoorn Guide to Grasses 201Schmidtia pappophoroides. Sand Quick...A tufted perennial, often with stolons and roots at the lower nodes.
1955 L.K.A. Chippindall in D. Meredith et al. Grasses & Pastures 367Stenotaphrum...1 species: S. secundatum...A well known ‘seaside quick grass’ that occurs in abundance above the beaches in numerous coastal districts.
1955 J.D. Scott et al. in D. Meredith et al. Grasses & Pastures 543On the deep sands of the sea-shore dunes, pioneer grasses are Sporobolus virginicus.., Dactyloctenium australe.., and Stenotaphrum secundatum (Seaside Quick).
1913 A. Glossop Barnes’s S. Afr. Hsehold Guide 316Grasses, Native, In order of merit come ‘Rooi’ grass.., small quick grass (Indian doab grass), rib grass.
the sturdy and often troublesome couch-grass Cynodon dactylon (subfamily Chlorodoideae); common quick or fine quick, see sense 2; quagga quick, see quagga sense 2; small quick, see sense 2; and
buffalo grass (sense 1 b), Stenotaphrum secundatum.
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