quicksilver
The metal mercuryThe metal mercury.
Recorded UK: Speaker: Vealhurl Recorder: Vealhurl, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Meaning
2 senses(error unknown tag, literary, uncountable)The metal mercury.
Quecksilber
ртутьrtutʹ
(broadly, error unknown tag, literary, uncountable)An amalgam of mercury and tin applied to the backs of mirrors; quicksilvering.
- a heavy silvery toxic univalent and bivalent metallic element; the only metal that is liquid at ordinary temperatures
Examples
4 sentencesMercury is also known as quicksilver.
The alchemist tried unsuccessfully to convert quicksilver into gold.
Quicksilver is also known as mercury.
Quicksilver, always liquid, corrodes metals.
ruРтуть, всегда находящаяся в жидком состоянии, разъедает металлы. — carlosalberto
deQuecksilber, das immer flüssig ist, korrodiert Metalle. — carlosalberto
Translations
7 languagesBy meaning 1
By meaning 1
Origin
From Middle English quyk silver, quyksilver, quikselver, from Old English cwicseolfor (“quFrom Middle English quyk silver, quyksilver, quikselver, from Old English cwicseolfor (“quicksilver”, literally “living silver”) (see Latin argentum vīvum) from its ability to move. See quick in the sense of "living". Cognate with Dutch kwikzilver, German Low German Quicksülver, German Quecksilber, Danish kviksølv, Norwegian Bokmål kvikksølv, Swedish kvicksilver. By surface analysis, quick (“living”) + silver.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Synonyms
4 synonyms- a heavy silvery toxic univalent and bivalent metallic element; the only metal that is liquid at ordinary temperatures:mercuryhydrargyrumHgatomic number 80
Word family
8 related wordsLessons for this word
1 lessons- A1Countable and uncountable nouns — Because it can be uncountable
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.