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Webster 1913 Edition


Quicksilver

Quick′silˊver

,
Noun.
[
Quick
living +
silver
; – so called from its fluidity; cf. G.
quecksilber
, L.
argentum vivum
. See
Quick
,
Adj.
]
(Chem.)
The metal mercury; – so called from its resemblance to liquid silver.
Quicksilver horizon
,
a mercurial artificial horizon. See under
Horizon
.
Quicksilver water
,
a solution of mercury nitrate used in artificial silvering; quick water.

Webster 1828 Edition


Quicksilver

QUICK'SILVER

,
Noun.
[that is, living silver, argentum vivum, so called from its fluidity.]
Mercury, a metal found both native and in the state of ore, in mines, in various parts of the world, and so remarkably fusible as to be congealable only with the intense cold indicated by 39 degrees or 40 degrees below zero, on Fahrenheit's thermometer. It is the heaviest of the metals, next to platina and gold. It is used in various arts and in medicine.

Definition 2024


quicksilver

quicksilver

English

Noun

quicksilver (uncountable)

  1. The metal mercury.
  2. (colloquial) An amalgam of mercury and tin applied to the backs of mirrors, quicksilvering.

Quotations

  • For usage examples of this term, see Citations:quicksilver.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

quicksilver (not comparable)

  1. Unpredictable, erratic or fickle; mercurial.
    • 2012 April 29, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Treehouse of Horror III” (season 4, episode 5; originally aired 10/29/1992)”, in (Please provide the title of the work):
      The idea of a merchant selling both totems of pure evil and frozen yogurt (he calls it frogurt!) is amusing in itself, as is the idea that frogurt could be cursed, but it’s really the Shopkeeper’s quicksilver shift from ominous doomsaying to chipper salesmanship that sells the sequence.

Verb

quicksilver (third-person singular simple present quicksilvers, present participle quicksilvering, simple past and past participle quicksilvered)

  1. To overlay with quicksilver.
  2. To treat with quicksilver.