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
16 May 2025
(adjective) marked by columniation having free columns in porticoes either at both ends or at both sides of a structure
The Boston Tea Party helped popularize coffee in America. The hefty tea tax imposed on the colonies in 1773 resulted in America switching from tea to coffee. In the lead up to the Revolutionary War, it became patriotic to sip java instead of tea. The Civil War made the drink more pervasive. Coffee helped energize tired troops, and drinking it became an expression of freedom.
