Syn. -- Velocity; celerity; rapidity; speed; haste; expedition;
promptness; dispatch; swiftness; nimbleness; fleetness; agility;
briskness; liveliness; readiness; sagacity; shrewdness; shrewdness;
sharpness; keenness.
Quick"sand` (?), n. Sand easily moved or readily yielding to pressure;
especially, a deep mass of loose or moving sand mixed with water,
sometimes found at the mouth of a river or along some coasts, and very
dangerous, from the difficulty of extricating a person who begins
sinking into it.
Life hath quicksands, -- Life hath snares!
Longfellow.
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Quick"-scent`ed (?), a. Acute of smell.
Quick"set` (?), n. A living plant set to grow, esp. when set for a
hedge; specifically, the hawthorn.
Quick"set`, a. Made of quickset.
Dates and pomegranates on the quickset hedges.
Walpole.
Quick"set`, v. t. To plant with living shrubs or trees for a hedge; as,
to quickset a ditch. Mortimer.
Quick"-sight`ed (?), a. Having quick sight or acute discernment; quick
to see or to discern. Locke.
--Quick"-sight`ed*ness, n.
Quick"sil`ver (?), n. [Quick living + silver; -- so called from its
fluidity; cf. G. quecksilber, L. argentum vivum. See Quick, a.] (Chem.)
The metal mercury; -- so called from its resemblance to liquid silver.
Quicksilver horizon, a mercurial artificial horizon. See under Horizon.
-- Quicksilver water, a solution of mercury nitrate used in artificial
silvering; quick water.
Quick"sil`vered (?), a. Overlaid with quicksilver, or with an amalgam
of quicksilver and tinfoil.
Quick"sil`ver*ing (?), n. The mercury and foil on the back of a
looking-glass.
Quick"step` (?), n. (Mus.) A lively, spirited march; also, a lively
style of dancing.
Quick"-wit`ted (?), a. Having ready wit Shak.
Quick"-wit`ted*ness, n. Readiness of wit. "Celtic quick-wittedness." M.
Arnold.
Quick"work` (?), n. (Naut.) A term somewhat loosely used to denote: (a)
All the submerged section of a vessel's planking. (b) The planking
between the spirketing and the clamps. (c) The short planks between the
portholes.
Quid (?), n. [See Cud.] A portion suitable to be chewed; a cud; as, a
quid of tobacco.
Quid, v. t. (Man.) To drop from the mouth, as food when partially
chewed; -- said of horses. Youatt.
||Qui"dam (?), n. [L.] Somebody; one unknown. Spenser.
Quid"da*ny (?), n. [L. cydoneum quince juice, quince wine. See Quince.]
A confection of quinces, in consistency between a sirup and marmalade.
Quid"da*tive (?), a. [See Quiddity.] Constituting, or containing, the
essence of a thing; quidditative.
Quid"dit (?), n. [Cf. Quiddity, Quillet, and Quibble.] A subtilty; an
equivocation. [Obs.] Shak.
By some strange quiddit or some wrested clause.
Drayton.
Quid"di*ta*tive (?), a. Quiddative.
Quid"di*ty (?), n.; pl. Quiddities (#). [LL. quidditas, fr. L. quid
what, neut. of quis who, akin to E. who: cf. F. quidditÈ.] 1. The
essence, nature, or distinctive peculiarity, of a thing; that which
answers the question, Quid est? or, What is it? " The degree of nullity
and quiddity." Bacon.
The quiddity or characteristic difference of poetry as
distinguished from prose.
De Quincey.