What does "quicklime" mean?

Calcium oxide, which is produced by heating (calcining) limestone and gives slaked lime on treatment with water.

What is a synonym for "quicklime"?

Common synonyms include: burnt lime, lime, calcium oxide, anhydrous lime, burnt lime, calcined lime.

Quicklime

//ˈkwɪkˌlaɪm// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
Calcium oxide, which is produced by heating (calcining) limestone and gives slaked lime on treatment with water. countable, uncountable
"The Warders strutted up and down, / And kept their herd of brutes, / Their uniforms were spick and span, / And they wore their Sunday suits, / But we knew the work they had been at, / By the quicklime on their boots."
2
a white crystalline oxide used in the production of calcium hydroxide wordnet

Verb

1
To treat (something) with quicklime. transitive

Synonyms

All synonyms

burnt lime lime calcium oxide anhydrous lime burnt lime calcined lime

Example

More examples

"The Warders strutted up and down, / And kept their herd of brutes, / Their uniforms were spick and span, / And they wore their Sunday suits, / But we knew the work they had been at, / By the quicklime on their boots."

Etymology

From Middle English quyk lym; equivalent to quick + lime.

Related phrases

calcium oxide slaked lime

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.