Definition of "quicksand" []

• A bed of loose sand mixed with water forming a soft shifting mass that yields easily to pressure and tends to engulf any object resting on its surface. (noun)
• A place or situation into which entry can be swift and sudden but from which extrication can be difficult or impossible. Often used in the plural: "This theory of the future entrapped [them] in the quicksands of Vietnam” ( Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.) (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Do this, and you're liable to end up thinking that quicksand is something that only happens in the jungle or the desert, and that the average patch has no discernible bottom."
• "Getting unstuck from quicksand is really a Vulcan-esque endeavor, requiring rationality, intelligence and emotional distance."
• "Meaning that, under normal circumstances, a person in quicksand should really just bob around like buoy on the ocean."