quicksilver
English
Etymology
From Middle English quyk silver, quyksilver, quikselver, from Old English cwicseolfor (“quicksilver”, literally “living silver”) (see Latin argentum vivum) from its ability to move. See quick in the sense of "living". Equivalent to quick + silver. Cognate with Dutch kwikzilver, German Low German Quicksülver, German Quecksilber, Danish kviksølv, Norwegian Bokmål kvikksølv, Swedish kvicksilver.
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 360: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "US" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. enPR: kwĭk'sĭlvər, IPA(key): /ˈkwɪkˌsɪlvɚ/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Noun
quicksilver (uncountable)
- The metal mercury.
- (colloquial) An amalgam of mercury and tin applied to the backs of mirrors, quicksilvering.
Quotations
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:quicksilver.
Synonyms
- (the metal mercury): mercury, hydrargyrum
Derived terms
terms derived from quicksilver
Translations
mercury
|
amalgam used on mirrors
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
|
Adjective
quicksilver (not comparable)
- 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 book title or journal name)[1]:
- 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.
Translations
unpredictable, erratic
|
Verb
quicksilver (third-person singular simple present quicksilvers, present participle quicksilvering, simple past and past participle quicksilvered)
Further reading
- David Barthelmy (1997–2024) “Quicksilver”, in Webmineral Mineralogy Database.
- “quicksilver”, in Mindat.org[2], Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, 2000–2024.
- “quicksilver”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- William Dwight Whitney and Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1914), “quicksilver”, in The Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language, revised edition, volumes IV (P–Simulant), New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English compound terms
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English colloquialisms
- English adjectives
- English uncomparable adjectives
- English terms with quotations
- English verbs
- English adjective-noun compound nouns