What's the difference between down and quicksand?

Down


Definition:

  • (a.) Downcast; as, a down look.
  • (a.) Downright; absolute; positive; as, a down denial.
  • (a.) Downward; going down; sloping; as, a down stroke; a down grade; a down train on a railway.
  • (n.) Fine, soft, hairy outgrowth from the skin or surface of animals or plants, not matted and fleecy like wool
  • (n.) The soft under feathers of birds. They have short stems with soft rachis and bards and long threadlike barbules, without hooklets.
  • (n.) The pubescence of plants; the hairy crown or envelope of the seeds of certain plants, as of the thistle.
  • (n.) The soft hair of the face when beginning to appear.
  • (n.) That which is made of down, as a bed or pillow; that which affords ease and repose, like a bed of down
  • (v. t.) To cover, ornament, line, or stuff with down.
  • (prep.) A bank or rounded hillock of sand thrown up by the wind along or near the shore; a flattish-topped hill; -- usually in the plural.
  • (prep.) A tract of poor, sandy, undulating or hilly land near the sea, covered with fine turf which serves chiefly for the grazing of sheep; -- usually in the plural.
  • (prep.) A road for shipping in the English Channel or Straits of Dover, near Deal, employed as a naval rendezvous in time of war.
  • (prep.) A state of depression; low state; abasement.
  • (adv.) In the direction of gravity or toward the center of the earth; toward or in a lower place or position; below; -- the opposite of up.
  • (adv.) From a higher to a lower position, literally or figuratively; in a descending direction; from the top of an ascent; from an upright position; to the ground or floor; to or into a lower or an inferior condition; as, into a state of humility, disgrace, misery, and the like; into a state of rest; -- used with verbs indicating motion.
  • (adv.) In a low or the lowest position, literally or figuratively; at the bottom of a decent; below the horizon; of the ground; in a condition of humility, dejection, misery, and the like; in a state of quiet.
  • (adv.) From a remoter or higher antiquity.
  • (adv.) From a greater to a less bulk, or from a thinner to a thicker consistence; as, to boil down in cookery, or in making decoctions.
  • (adv.) In a descending direction along; from a higher to a lower place upon or within; at a lower place in or on; as, down a hill; down a well.
  • (adv.) Hence: Towards the mouth of a river; towards the sea; as, to sail or swim down a stream; to sail down the sound.
  • (v. t.) To cause to go down; to make descend; to put down; to overthrow, as in wrestling; hence, to subdue; to bring down.
  • (v. i.) To go down; to descend.

Example Sentences:

Quicksand


Definition:

  • (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.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) She says that, while she stayed away from the more difficult ramifications of that upbringing, she nevertheless plunged right into the "hot quicksand" of the Arab-Israeli conflict, right down into the Biblical roots of Jewish-Muslim conflict in the story of Abraham, Hagar, Isaac and Ishmael (which she meditates upon in the opera's Hagar chorus), and into the vortex of questions about Israel's right to exist and what motivates terrorists.
  • (2) If you think coalition was bad – backroom deals, cut-and-paste policymaking, good ideas lost in the quicksand between the two parties – then try the looser varieties of alliance.
  • (3) "Debt-to-GDP ratios are already eye-wateringly high, and this week's stunning capitulation in May industrial production data from Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands has raised fears that the so-called eurozone recovery has become stuck in quicksand, and without growth to erode the debt levels, the money that has flowed into Europe could well come flooding back out."
  • (4) Inequality meets unrealistic promises There are few places where the political landscape is turning to quicksand as quickly as McDowell, the poorest county in West Virginia.
  • (5) As the once proud defender of the people against the excesses of capitalism sank into the quicksand, financial storm clouds swiftly gathered overhead.
  • (6) It was like opening the book of Necronomicon or falling into quicksand."
  • (7) The FRC revealed that it had been monitoring Quindell since March 2014, a month before a US fund accused the company of being a “country club based on quicksand”.
  • (8) There has been a huge amount of discussion about whether the business model was valid and whether there was value in the business and this should put that to bed.” Quindell was thrown into turmoil almost a year ago when Gotham City Research, a US short-seller, published a report questioning the company’s revenues and profits, saying its business was “built on quicksand”.
  • (9) If we are homeowners, we worry that the home we own outright has a monetary value that is as solid as quicksand and that the future we thought was secure will turn out to have been a pipedream.
  • (10) So while the past week's figures suggest that the foundations for an eventual recovery may be starting to be laid, we are not out of the quicksand yet, let alone out of the woods."
  • (11) Government attempts to encourage or enact new rules in the wake of the Leveson inquiry have run into the same quicksands of definition, because they require the law to decide who or what is something called a " relevant publisher ".
  • (12) Looking through the self-interested anecdotes various protagonists are feeding to journalists in order to deepen this current crisis in order to force a resolution, understanding that in a leadership crisis everybody lies and everything is quicksand – the simple facts are Abbott’s leadership is on death watch because he has lost, comprehensively, in the court of public opinion.
  • (13) Many listeners of The Archers would argue that Helen is not ill, but drowning in toxic environmental quicksand.
  • (14) But when she chooses to turn it on, she has immense personal magnetism, which has enabled her to forge close and lasting relationships with designers, business moguls and other models – relationships that have done much to shield her from the quicksand into which many models' careers disappear.
  • (15) When Canada looks at Donald Trump, all we can see is Rob Ford | Matthew Hays Read more But for the rest of us, the last nine years have felt more like a standstill, a collective gang of non-Conservatives stuck in quicksand.
  • (16) The sensation is one of, having been sure of my path, stepping into quicksand and being slowly pulled under,” Oliver recalls.
  • (17) And despite the slight ease in activity contraction, economists caution that Britain is "not out of the quicksand yet".
  • (18) Why did the party allow itself to become stuck in this quicksand?
  • (19) He followed it with Hunky Dory (1972), a mix of wordy, elaborate songwriting ( The Bewlay Brothers or Quicksand ), crunchy rockers ( Queen Bitch ) and infectious pop songs ( Kooks ).
  • (20) Kicking the can down the road is still mostly better than kicking it into the quicksands.

Words possibly related to "quicksand"