Word Study
quicksand
CIDE DICTIONARY
quicksand, 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. [1913 Webster]
"Life hath quicksands, -- Life hath snares!" [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
quicksand, n.
1 loose wet sand that sucks in anything placed or falling into it.
2 a bed of this.
1 loose wet sand that sucks in anything placed or falling into it.
2 a bed of this.
THESAURUS
quicksand
baygall, bind, bog, bottom, bottomland, bottoms, breakers ahead, buffalo wallow, cardhouse, cause for alarm, clutch, complication, coral heads, crisis, crunch, danger, dangerous ground, embarrassing position, embarrassment, emergency, endangerment, everglade, fen, fenland, fine how-do-you-do, gaping chasm, gathering clouds, glade, hazard, hell to pay, hobble, hog wallow, holm, hot water, house of cards, how-do-you-do, imbroglio, imperilment, ironbound coast, jam, jeopardy, ledges, lee shore, marais, marish, marsh, marshland, meadow, menace, mere, mess, mire, mix, moor, moorland, morass, moss, mud, mud flat, parlous straits, pass, peat bog, peril, pickle, pinch, pitfall, plight, predicament, pretty pass, pretty pickle, pretty predicament, quagmire, quicksands, risk, rockbound coast, rocks, rocks ahead, salt marsh, sandbank, sandbar, sands, scrape, shallows, shoals, slob land, slough, sough, spot, squeeze, stew, sticky wicket, storm clouds, strait, straits, sump, swale, swamp, swampland, taiga, thin ice, threat, tight spot, tight squeeze, tightrope, tricky spot, undercurrent, undertow, unholy mess, wallow, washFor further exploring for "quicksand" in Webster Dictionary Online