▪ I. quicksilver, n.
(ˈkwɪkˌsɪlvə(r))
[OE. cwic seolfor = OHG. quecsilbar, -silper (MHG. quec-, kecsilber, G. quecksilber), Du. kwikzilver, ON. kviksilfr (Sw. qvicksilfver, Da. kvæg-, kviksölv), after L. argentum vivum (Pliny): see quick a. and silver.]
1. The metal mercury, so called from its liquid mobile form at ordinary temperatures.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 356 Wiþ maᵹan wærce rudan sæd & cwic seolfor. c 1386 Chaucer Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 269 The firste spirit quyksiluer called is. 1436 Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 160 Commodytes..commynge out of Spayne,..Bene fygues..Saffron, quicksilver. 1555 Eden Decades 335 By the helpe of quickesyluer it is drawen owt. 1625 N. Carpenter Geog. Del. ii. v. (1635) 71 Quick-siluer..will gather it selfe to a round body. 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 309 This Column of Quick-silver in the Tube, is supported by the weight of the Air Ambient. 1782 Cowper Progr. Err. 21 Like quicksilver, the rhetoric they display Shines as it runs, but grasped at slips away. 1825 J. Neal Bro. Jonathan I. 326 A profusion of little rain-drops; like spattered quicksilver. 1870 Yeats Nat. Hist. Comm. 360 Quicksilver is met with pure in minute globules, but for the purposes of commerce it is obtained from one of its ores,—cinnabar, a red sulphide of mercury. |
2. Used allusively. a. with reference to the quick motion of which the metal is capable.
| 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 165 She is quycke syluer. 1622 Bacon Hen. VII 192 Perkin (who was made of Quick-silver, which is hard to hold or imprison) began to stirre. 1820 Scott Abbot xix, Thou hast quicksilver in the veins of thee to a certainty. 1889 Boy's Own Paper 17 Aug. 730/3, I..had come off the journey with my veins full of quicksilver. |
b. with ref. to its use in mirrors (see the vb.).
| 1851 Robertson Serm. Ser. ii. xii. (1864) 166 The dull quicksilver of their own selfishness behind the glass. |
3. attrib. and Comb. a. attributive, in senses ‘consisting of, containing, pertaining to, etc. quicksilver’, as quicksilver bath, quicksilver battery, quicksilver earth, quicksilver field, quicksilver globe, quicksilver mine, quicksilver ore, quicksilver plaster, quicksilver ship, quicksilver tank, quicksilver valve, quicksilver water, etc.
| 1552 Huloet, Quyckesyluer earth, antrax. a 1631 Donne Poems, Apparition, In a cold Quicksilver bath. 1685 Lond. Gaz. No. 1996/1 The Quick-Silver Ships may be expected this month at Cadiz. 1751 Mrs. Delany Autobiog. (1861) III. 53 Quick-silver-water is the most effectual remedy for worms. 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) IV. 152 Cinnabar or quicksilver ore. 1839 Marryat Phant. Ship iii. (1874) 25 In the centre of the ceiling hung a quicksilver globe, a common ornament in those days. 1877 Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 19 A very important quicksilver-field is about to be opened in the far north. Ibid. 260 A..clever arrangement of quicksilver-tanks. |
b. attrib. in sense ‘resembling quicksilver (in quickness of movement)’, as quicksilver mind, quicksilver rebel, quicksilver rogue, quicksilver temper.
| 1655 W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. V. §4 (1669) 94/1 Labour therefore in hearing the Word to fix thy quick-silver mind. 1676 W. Hubbard Happiness of People 29 These are Inquieta ingenia of Quick-silver tempers. 1796 Earl Balcarres in Bryan Edwards Proc. Maroon Negroes (1796) 35 Until such time as these quick-silver rebels are under lock and key. 1863 Cowden Clarke Shaks. Char. xiv. 360 That prince of quicksilver rogues—Master Autolycus. |
c. objective, and obj. genitive, as quicksilver-feeder, quicksilver-fixation, quicksilver-producing adj., quicksilver-reduction, etc.
| 1834 Macaulay Ess., Pitt (1887) 306 The periwig company, and the Spanish-jack-ass-company, and the quicksilver-fixation-company. 1877 Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 19 Coming south from Trinity, the next quicksilver-producing locality..is in the Coast Range. 1882 Rep. Ho. Repr. Prec. Met. U.S. 507 A quicksilver feeder has been devised for feeding mercury to gold mills. |
Hence ˈquickˌsilverish a., somewhat quicksilvery (hence ˈquickˌsilverishness); ˈquickˌsilvery a., of the nature of, resembling, quicksilver.
| 1611 Cotgr., Vif-Argentin, quicke-siluerie. 1829 Anniversary, Honeycomb & Bitter Gourd 118 The flighty and quicksilvery youth of the parish. 1852 Mrs. Craik Agatha's Husband II. i. 17 She had..a certain quicksilverishness of manner, jumping here there everywhere like mercury on a plate. 1891 T. Hardy Tess (1900) 70/2 The quicksilvery glaze on the rivers and pools. |
▪ II. quicksilver, v.
(ˈkwɪkˌsɪlvə(r))
[f. prec. n.]
To treat, imbue, or mix with quicksilver; esp. to coat (the back of glass) with an amalgam of tin in order to give a reflecting power.
| 1704 Newton Optics (1721) 94 Metal..reflects not so much Light as Glass quick-silver'd over does. 1799 G. Smith Laboratory I. 178 How to Quicksilver the inside of Glass Globes, so as to make them look like Looking-glass. 1831 Brewster Optics i. 4 The glass is always quicksilvered on the back, to make it reflect more light. |
Hence ˈquickˌsilvered ppl. a. (in early quots. fig.). ˈquickˌsilvering vbl. n., the action or process of coating, etc., with quicksilver; also concr. a coating of quicksilver or amalgam.
| 1599 E. Sandys Europæ Spec. (1632) 80 Those nimble and quicksilverd braines which itch after change. c 1645 Howell Lett. (1650) I. iv. 21 The Leaden-heeld pace of the one, and the Quick-silver'd motions of the other. 1753 Parsons in Phil. Trans. XLVIII. 380, I took a quicksilver'd glass. 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 728 The quicksilvered tin-foil adheres..firmly to the glass. |