quicksilver vs slippery

quicksilver

adj
  • Unpredictable, erratic or fickle; mercurial. 

noun
  • The metal mercury. 

  • An amalgam of mercury and tin applied to the backs of mirrors, quicksilvering. 

verb
  • To overlay with quicksilver. 

  • To treat with quicksilver. 

slippery

adj
  • Unstable; changeable; inconstant. 

  • Evasive; difficult to pin down. 

  • Of a surface, having low friction, often due to being covered in a non-viscous liquid, and therefore hard to grip, hard to stand on without falling, etc. 

How often have the words quicksilver and slippery occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )