in quick sticks
- idiom
- Archaic
- When she heard the news, she left the office in quick sticks to catch the last train.
Examples
-
We had to pack our bags in quick sticks before the taxi arrived.
-
She finished her homework in quick sticks.
-
The team finished the task in quick sticks to meet the deadline.
-
The cat jumped in quick sticks when it saw the dog.
-
The team finished the task in quick sticks to meet the deadline.
-
We had to pack our bags in quick sticks before the taxi arrived.
-
When she heard the news, she left the office in quick sticks to catch the last train.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
Moving or happening quickly
∞
1.0
At a fast speed or without delay
∞
1.0
Quickly and without warning
∞
1.0
Happening or done without any delay
356
1.4
In a very short time
75
1.0
Quickly and smoothly
43
3.5
In a quick, careless way
32
2.5
Very quickly in a single moment
24
3.3
Very quickly, in almost no time
22
3.2
Without delay after something happens
21
3.7
Very quickly and without delay
19
2.8
Quickly and without careful thought
19
3.5
Quickly and with a lot of energy to get things done
15
3.2
Acting quickly with little care
8
8.6
Very quickly without any delay
6
2.4
To act quickly without delay
4
4.1
Very fast, without delay
4
7.0
Happens very soon
3
8.8
Happens very quickly and without delay
2
3.0
It happens very quickly with little effort
1
6.5
Soon, without much delay
1
6.0
Moving at a fairly fast speed
1
7.2
In a very short time
1
2.0
Happen very fast
1
5.0
Happens very quickly
1
8.0
In a very quick way, like someone running fast
1
8.8
Very fast without waiting
1
5.1
To happen or be done very quickly
1
8.5
Happening very quickly
1
7.9
In a very short time
It happens very quickly
Antonyms
How Fast
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'very quickly' is not transparently derivable from the parts: 'in' and 'quick' are clear but 'sticks' has no obvious compositional role here and appears to be dialectal or non-literal. A B1 learner who knows the individual words would therefore be unlikely to infer the idiomatic sense without prior exposure, making the phrase unpredictable and regionally bound rather than compositional.
Etymology
The phrase in quick sticks may come from the children's game 'pick-up sticks'. In that game you must be quick with the sticks to lift one without moving the others, so being 'in quick sticks' came to mean acting 'very quickly'.