The Quick and the Dead

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For other uses, see The Quick and the Dead (disambiguation).

The Quick and the Dead is an English phrase and popular title for novels, films and other popular culture entities.

The application of the phrase "the quick and the dead" to the common subject of gunfighting was due to a misunderstanding of its original meaning in the King James Version of the New Testament (published 1611), where the phrase is used in 1 Peter 4:5: "...who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead."

In the English of the era, quick meant "living" or "alive," being derived from the Proto-Germanic *kwikwaz, which in turn was from the Proto-Indo-European base *gwiwo- "to live" (from which also came the Latin vivere and later the Italian and Spanish viva). Its English meaning in later centuries shifted to "fast," "rapid," "moving, or able to move, with speed," and finally came to be used in the title of this and other works of literature.