| 释义 |
quicksand|ˈkwɪksænd|
[ME. (f. quick a. 10), = Du. kwikzand, G. quick-, Da. kvik-, Sw. qvicksand, Icel. kviksandr; but it is doubtful whether all of these are independent formations.]
1. A bed of extremely loose wet sand, easily yielding to pressure and thus readily swallowing up any heavy object resting on it. Quicksands are frequent on some coasts, and are very dangerous to travellers, stranded ships, etc.
14..Burlesque in Reliq. Antiq. (1841) I. 82, .vij. acurs of londe betwyxe Dover and Qwykkesand. 1480Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxliv. (1482) 304 He brought hem thurgh a quyke sand and so in to an Ile. 1523Fitzherb. Husb. § 128 It is in manner of a quycke sande that harde it is for any thynge to goe ouer. 1610Holland Camden's Brit. i. 753 Uncertaine sands..ready to catch and swallow, they call them Quick-sands. c1700Prior The Ladle 26 Amphitrite clears his way From rocks and quicksands in the sea. 1784Cowper Tiroc. 870 Conscious that there lay..quicksands in his way. 1851Mayne Reid Scalp Hunt. v. 39, I was sinking in a quicksand.
b. fig. Applied to things (more rarely to persons) having the absorbent, yielding, or treacherous character of a quicksand.
1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, v. iv. 26 What [is] Clarence, but a Quick-sand of Deceit? 1602Marston Antonio's Rev. iv. iv, I am a poore, poore orphant..the very ouze, The quick⁓sand that devours all miserie. 1608Middleton Trick to Catch Old One i. i, Swallowed in the quicksands of law⁓quillets. 1697Jos. Woodward Relig. Soc. x. (1704) 157 Self-conceit..is a quicksand in which thousands have been swallowed up. 1781Cowper Progr. Err. 552 Sinking in the quicksand he defends, He dies disputing. 1879Church Spenser 161 He once more tried the quicksands of the Court.
attrib.a1616Beaum. & Fl. Bonduca ii. i, Fling their fame and fortunes Into this Britain gulf, this quicksand ruin.
2. Without article: Loose yielding sand.
1838Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 151/1 It passes through quicksand, clay [etc.]. 1859Marcy Prairie Trav. iii. 75 A man incurs no danger in walking over quicksand provided he step rapidly. 1881Raymond Mining Gloss., Quicksand, sand which is..shifting, easily movable or semi-liquid.
Hence ˈquicksand v. inpass., to be stuck in a quicksand. ˈquicksanded a., full of quicksands. fig. ˈquicksandy a., of the nature of a quicksand.
1614T. Adams Phys. from Heaven Wks. 1861 I. 358 The rotten, moorish, quicksandy grounds, that some have set their edifices on. 1618G. Mynshul Ess. Prison, Jaylors 30 Many men..forsake the calmes of their owne happy fortunes, to arriue on these quicksanded Shores. 1899Westm. Gaz. 20 May 5/2 The animal and the cart became quicksanded. |