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definitions

quick-fire

or quick-fir·ing

[kwik-fahyuh r or kwik-fahyuh r-ing]
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR quick-fire ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

firing or equipped for firing rapidly, especially at moving targets.

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RELATED WORDS

rapid, prompt, hasty, brisk, immediate, hurried, expeditious, swift, agile, breakneck, express, fleet, headlong, lissome, lively, nimble, precipitate, ready, snappy, summary

Origin of quick-fire

First recorded in 1890–95

quick fire

noun

a single shot or several shots fired at a rapid rate from small arms at a target, especially one presented unexpectedly.

Origin of quick fire

First recorded in 1890–95
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for quick-fire

Contemporary Examples of quick-fire

  • Hitchens, by contrast, wrote journalism and quick-fire columns and was not averse to using cliché or ready-made formulation.

    The Daily Beast logo
    How Will Hitchens Be Remembered?

    Jason Cowley

    December 16, 2011

Historical Examples of quick-fire

  • But he was secretly elated at the quick-fire success of his joke.

    Painted Veils

    James Huneker

  • The windows filled, the streets ahead of us became choked, as the word that the President was coming ran on like quick-fire.

    The Crisis, Complete

    Winston Churchill

  • Order followed order like the rattle of quick-fire, and was obeyed with something more than the Wolverine's customary smartness.

    The Mystery

    Stewart Edward White and Samuel Hopkins Adams

  • Boil them with a quick-fire, till by trying a little upon a Plate, you find it gellieth.

  • The infantry is armed with the Mauser rifle, the artillery with a shielded Krupp quick-fire piece of 7.5-centimeter caliber.

British Dictionary definitions for quick-fire

quick fire

noun

rapid continuous gunfire, esp at a moving target

adjective quick-fire

Also: quick-firing capable of or designed for quick fire
informal rapid or following one another in rapid successionquick-fire questions
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012