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Cut to the Quick
September 22, 2012 8:00 am
(@grantbarrett)
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Joined: 18 years ago
If you cut something to the quick, it means you're getting at its very essence. It comes from the Old English word cwicu, meaning alive. It the source of the quick in the phrase the quick and the dead, as well as the words quicksilver ("living silver"), and quicksand ("living sand"), and the quick of your finger, the tender part under the fingernail. This is part of a complete episode.
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