erratic, fickle, mercurial, quicksilver
(adjective) liable to sudden unpredictable change; “erratic behavior”; “fickle weather”; “mercurial twists of temperament”; “a quicksilver character, cool and willful at one moment, utterly fragile the next”
mercury, quicksilver, hydrargyrum, Hg, atomic number
(noun) a heavy silvery toxic univalent and bivalent metallic element; the only metal that is liquid at ordinary temperatures
Source: WordNet® 3.1
quicksilver (uncountable)
The metal mercury.
(colloquial) An amalgam of mercury and tin applied to the backs of mirrors, quicksilvering.
• (the metal mercury): mercury, hydrargyrum
quicksilver (not comparable)
Unpredictable, erratic or fickle; mercurial.
quicksilver (third-person singular simple present quicksilvers, present participle quicksilvering, simple past and past participle quicksilvered)
To overlay with quicksilver.
To treat with quicksilver.
Source: Wiktionary
Quick"sil`ver, n. Etym: [Quick living + silver; -- so called from its fluidity; cf. G. quecksilber, L. argentum vivum. See Quick, a.] (Chem.)
Definition: 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.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
28 November 2024
(noun) the fusion of originally different inflected forms (resulting in a reduction in the use of inflections)
The first coffee-house in Mecca dates back to the 1510s. The beverage was in Turkey by the 1530s. It appeared in Europe circa 1515-1519 and was introduced to England by 1650. By 1675 the country had more than 3,000 coffee houses, and coffee had replaced beer as a breakfast drink.
