quicklime
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of quicklime
1350–1400; Middle English quyk lym, translation Latin calx vīva; see quick, lime 2
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Two problems: At the time, renewable energy cost too much to make it affordable, and adding water usually turns quicklime into an unwieldy goop.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 27, 2026
If that calcium comes straight from crushed limestone, it’s considered natural, but if it’s isolated from crushed stone and then treated with heat to become more concentrated quicklime, it qualifies as synthetic.
From Salon ● Jan. 2, 2025
Burning vast amounts of wood to convert limestone into quicklime ravaged the forests, which led to soil erosion and water contamination.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 1, 2023
Lime clasts have long been observed in the quicklime, or calcium oxide, that was a mainstay of the Roman empire’s concrete mixtures.
From Washington Times ● Jan. 8, 2023
Ancient Greeks discovered the uses of various mixtures of petroleum, pitch, resins, sulfur, and quicklime as incendiary weapons, delivered by catapults, arrows, firebombs, and ships.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
