quicksilver

/ˌkwɪkˈsɪlvər/

/ˈkwɪksɪlvə/

Other forms: quicksilvers

Use the noun quicksilver when you need a more poetic way to talk about the element known as mercury. If you look closely at an old-fashioned thermometer, you can see the quicksilver inside it.

It's more common to refer to this metal — the only one that is liquid at room temperature — as mercury, but it's also correct to call it quicksilver, which describes the properties of the element very well. Quicksilver is liquid, silver colored, and is fascinating to look at. The word comes from the sense of quick that means "alive;" the Latin root is argentum vivum, which is literally "living silver."

Definitions of quicksilver

1. noun

   a heavy silvery toxic univalent and bivalent metallic element; the only metal that is liquid at ordinary temperatures
   synonyms: Hg, atomic number 80, hydrargyrum, mercury

   type of:

   metal, metallic element

   any of several chemical elements that are usually shiny solids that conduct heat or electricity and can be formed into sheets etc.
2. adjective

   liable to sudden unpredictable change
   “a quicksilver character, cool and willful at one moment, utterly fragile the next”

   synonyms: erratic, fickle, mercurial

   changeable, changeful

   such that alteration is possible; having a marked tendency to change