quicksilveredadj.
/ˈkwɪkˌsɪlvəd/, U.S. /ˈkwɪkˌsɪlvərd/ 1. figurative. Resembling quicksilver; bright, rapid, unpredictable, mercurial.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > change > changeableness > [adjective]
slidinga900
wankleeOE
windyc1000
unsteadfastc1200
fleeting?c1225
loose?c1225
brotelc1315
unstablec1340
varyingc1340
variantc1374
motleyc1380
ungroundedc1380
muablea1393
passiblea1393
remuablea1393
changeablea1398
movablea1398
variablec1397
slidderya1400
ticklec1400
variantc1412
flitting1413
mutable?a1425
movingc1425
flaskisable1430
flickering1430
transmutablec1430
vertible1447
brittlea1450
ficklea1450
permutablec1450
unfirmc1450
uncertain1477
turnable1483
unsteadfast1483
vagrantc1522
inconstant1526
alterable?1531
stirringc1540
slippery1548
various1552
slid?1553
mutala1561
rolling1561
weathery1563
unconstant1568
interchangeable1574
fluctuant1575
stayless1575
transitive1575
voluble1575
changeling1577
queasy1579
desultory1581
huff-puff1582
unstaid1586
vagrant1586
changeful1590
floating1594
Protean1594
unstayed1594
swimming1596
anchorless1597
mobilec1600
ticklish1601
catching1603
labile1603
unrooted1604
quicksilvered1605
versatile1605
insubstantial1607
uncertain1609
brandling1611
rootless1611
squeasy1611
wind-changinga1616
insolid1618
ambulatory1625
versatilous1629
plastic1633
desultorious1637
unbottomed1641
fluid1642
fluent1648
yea-and-nay1648
versipellous1650
flexile1651
uncentred1652
variating1653
chequered1656
slideable1662
transchangeative1662
weathercock-like1663
flicketing1674
fluxa1677
lapsable1678
wanton1681
veering1684
upon the weathercock1702
contingent1703
unsettled?1726
fermentable1731
afloat1757
brickle1768
wavy1795
vagarious1798
unsettled1803
fitful1810
metamorphosical1811
undulating1815
tittupya1817
titubant1817
mutative1818
papier mâché1818
teetotum1819
vacillating1822
capricious1823
sensitive1828
quicksilvery1829
unengrafted1829
fluxionala1834
proteiform1833
liquid1835
tottlish1835
kaleidoscopic1846
versative1846
kaleidoscopical1858
tottery1861
choppy1865
variative1874
variational1879
wimbly-wambly1881
fluctuable1882
shifty1882
giveable1884
shifty1884
tippy1886
mutatory1890
upsettable1890
rocky1897
undulatory1897
streaky1898
tottly1905
tipply1906
up and down1907
inertialess1927
sometimey1946
rise-and-fall1950
switchable1961
1605 E. Sandys Relation State of Relig. sig. H2v Those nimble & quick-silvered braines which itch after change.
1641 Foure Fugitives Meeting 5 Use your Quick-silverd dye [sc. dice],..and when you have got their money, wee'l spend it bravely.
1645 J. Howell Epistolæ Ho-elianæ iv. xxi. 29 The Leaden-Heeld pace of the one, and the Quick-Silver'd motions of the other.
1887 L. I. Gurney White Sail 21 Then leaped quicksilvered Theseus thro' the fray, With love's suspicion kindling in his veins.
1941 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 29 May Quicksilvered, wind-riffled scurries flow Across the valley-held lake.
1994 Scotsman (Nexis) 16 Aug. A ballerina whose quick-silvered technique perfectly matched her effervescent stage presence.
2. Treated or coated with quicksilver; esp. (of glass) made reflective by coating with an amalgam of tin. Now chiefly historical.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > optical instruments > mirror > [adjective]
unfoiled1640
reflex1672
quicksilvered1754
mirrored1820
convex-concave1841
West Coast1957
1754 Philos. Trans. 1753 (Royal Soc.) 48 380 I took a quicksilver'd glass.
1825 ‘J. Nicholson’ Operative Mechanic 728 The quicksilvered tin-foil adheres..firmly to the glass.
1868 M. C. Lea Man. Photogr. 202 In this instrument the solar rays are received upon a mirror of silvered (not quicksilvered) glass.
1927 W. H. Bragg Creative Knowl. iii. 118 A quicksilvered mirror..has no lustre whatever.
1987 Vistas in Astron. 30 155 In the early eighteenth century James Short succeeded in making a number of acceptable quicksilvered glass reflectors.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1605