to heart quicken
1
5.2
- phrasal verb
- /hɑrt ˈkwɪkən/
:
acelerar el corazón
- His heart quickened with anticipation: perhaps the Kothoga had butchered an animal nearby.
- make my heart quicken
Examples
-
It was a blue Saab, and my heart quickened as I thought for a moment that it might be Pete.
Fiction book (1995) -
She could tell herself that Ross Beckett was just a friend until she was old and gray, and it wouldn't change the way her heart quickened when he was near or the way his touch, even accidental, made her feel like she couldn't breathe.
Fiction book (1991) -
A soft panic made my heart quicken.
Fiction book (2001) -
Her heart quickened whenever the leaves rustled, whenever a bird took flight.
Fiction book (1993) -
He opened his arms wide, and Molly stepped toward him, her heart quickening.
Fiction book (1995) -
Yet the Inn had a seedy glamour; your heart quickened when you stepped inside.
Fiction book (1997) -
Does your heart quicken when you see new merchandise in neatly stacked piles?
-
First, and her heart quickened measurably at the thought, she would see Julia's baby, the infant girl meant to be Susannah's own namesake.
Fiction book (2001) -
The cries from the other side of the hill came a little closer, and his heart quickened. In the silence of the morning, he could feel the muted drumming of the arteries in his neck and hear them deep within his ears.
Fiction book (1992) -
She felt her heart quicken with excitement as the concert began.
Synonyms
2
5.4
To make a person or thing more lively
1
8.1
To make a body part, especially the heart, beat fast and hard because of strong feeling
How Fast
98
2.6
1
5.2
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to begin to beat faster' is directly and compositionally derived from 'heart' (the chest organ) combined with 'quicken' (to make faster), so a learner who knows both words can infer the MWE meaning. This is a regular, cross-linguistically common body-part + verb construction in English and therefore readily comprehensible to a B1 learner who knows the constituents.
Etymology
Heart quicken The phrase heart quicken paints a simple picture: your heart suddenly beats faster and quicken means to speed up. So it means 'to begin to beat faster', often because of excitement, fear, or waiting for something important.