Emily Dickinson Lexicon

QUICK'SIL-VER, n. [that is, living silver, argentum vivum, so called from its fluidity.]

Mercury, a metal found both native and in the state of ore in mines, in various parts of the world, and so remarkably fusible as to be congealable only with the intense cold indicated by 39° or 40° below zero, on Fahrenheit's thermometer. It is the heaviest of the metals, next to platinum, gold, and tungsten. It is used in various arts and in medicine.