quick study

plural quick studies

1. idiomaticOne who is capable of learning at a fast pace; a fast learner.

   Gilpatric assumed that his own prior experience would give him an early advantage over McNamara, but this proved erroneous, as McNamara was a quick study and soon got a fix on the management and organization of the Defense Department.

   1981, Douglas Kinnard, Secretary of Defense, page 78

   Antonyms: slow study

2. obsoleteAn actor who is able to learn their lines in a short amount of time.

   ... She is a quick study --' 'A what?' 'Learns her part rapidly, I mean. ...

   1880, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Belgravia, volume XL, page 80

   2 more examples

   'I mustn't be cracking jokes though, for I've got a part of twelve lengths here, which I must be up in tomorrow night, and I haven't had time to look at it yet; I'm a confounded quick study, that's one comfort.'

   1838 March – 1839 October, Charles Dickens, “chapter 23”, in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1839, →OCLC

   "Ah!" sighs the little widow, "I absolutely don't know how I am! With all this professional jargon, and nothing but 'quick study' and 'lines,' in one ear; and 'left upper' and 'right lower,' in the other, I am almost distracted!"

   1888, Frances Aymar Mathews, His Way and Her Will, page 81

3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see quick, study.