%mercur%

a. (Astron.) Between the planet Mercury and the sun; -- as, the hypothetical Vulcan is intramercurial. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Mercuric + ammonium. ] (Chem.) A radical regarded as derived from ammonium by the substitution of mercury for a portion of the hydrogen. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. mercurialis, fr. Mercurius Mercury: cf. F. mercuriel. ] 1. Having the qualities fabled to belong to the god Mercury; swift; active; sprightly; fickle; volatile; changeable; as, a mercurial youth; a mercurial temperament. [ 1913 Webster ]

A mercurial man
Who fluttered over all things like a fan. Byron. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Having the form or image of Mercury; -- applied to ancient guideposts. [ Obs. ] Chillingworth. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Of or pertaining to Mercury as the god of trade; hence, money-making; crafty. [ 1913 Webster ]

The mercurial wand of commerce. J. Q. Adams. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Of or pertaining to, or containing, mercury; as, mercurial preparations, barometer. See Mercury, 2. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Med.) Caused by the use of mercury; as, mercurial sore mouth. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A person having mercurial qualities. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Med.) A preparation containing mercury. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Mercurial + -ism. ] (Med.) The syndrome produced by poisoning due to exposure to mercury, it fumes, or its compounds; mercury poisoning. Such exposure may occur in mining or smelting, or in using mercurial compounds. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One under the influence of Mercury; one resembling Mercury in character. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Med.) A physician who uses much mercury, in any of its forms, in his practice. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Mercurialized p. pr. & vb. n. Mercurializing ] 1. (Med.) To affect with mercury. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Photography) To treat with mercury; to expose to the vapor of mercury. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To be sprightly, fantastic, or capricious. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a mercurial manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Chem.) Of, pertaining to, or derived from, mercury; containing mercury; -- said of those compounds of mercury into which this element enters in its lowest proportion. [ 1913 Webster ]

Mercuric chloride, corrosive sublimate. See mercury bichloride and Corrosive. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. mercurification. See Mercurify. ] 1. (Metal.) The process or operation of obtaining the mercury, in its fluid form, from mercuric minerals. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Chem.) The act or process of compounding, or the state of being compounded, with mercury. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Mercurified p. pr. & vb. n. Mercurifying ] [ Mercury + -fy. ] 1. To obtain mercury from, as mercuric minerals, which may be done by any application of intense heat that expels the mercury in fumes, which are afterward condensed. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To combine or mingle mercury with; to impregnate with mercury; to mercurialize. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A communication of news; an announcement. [ Obs. ] Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Chem.) Of, pertaining to, or derived from, mercury; containing mercury; -- said of those compounds of mercury in which it is present in its highest proportion. [ 1913 Webster ]

Mercurous chloride. (Chem.) See Calomel. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To wash with a preparation of mercury. [ Obs. ] B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. Mercurius; akin to merx wares. ] 1. (Rom. Myth.) A Latin god of commerce and gain; -- treated by the poets as identical with the Greek Hermes, messenger of the gods, conductor of souls to the lower world, and god of eloquence. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Chem.) A metallic element mostly obtained by reduction from cinnabar, one of its ores. It is a heavy, opaque, glistening liquid (commonly called quicksilver), and is used in barometers, thermometers, etc. Specific gravity 13.6. Symbol Hg (Hydrargyrum). Atomic weight 199.8. Mercury has a molecule which consists of only one atom. It was named by the alchemists after the god Mercury, and designated by his symbol, &mercury_;. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Mercury forms alloys, called amalgams, with many metals, and is thus used in applying tin foil to the backs of mirrors, and in extracting gold and silver from their ores. It is poisonous, and is used in medicine in the free state as in blue pill, and in its compounds as calomel, corrosive sublimate, etc. It is the only metal which is liquid at ordinary temperatures, and it solidifies at about -39° Centigrade to a soft, malleable, ductile metal. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Astron.) One of the planets of the solar system, being the one nearest the sun, from which its mean distance is about 36, 000, 000 miles. Its period is 88 days, and its diameter 3, 000 miles. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A carrier of tidings; a newsboy; a messenger; hence, also, a newspaper. Sir J. Stephen. “The monthly Mercuries.” Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Sprightly or mercurial quality; spirit; mutability; fickleness. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

He was so full of mercury that he could not fix long in any friendship, or to any design. Bp. Burnet. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Bot.) A plant (Mercurialis annua), of the Spurge family, the leaves of which are sometimes used for spinach, in Europe. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The name is also applied, in the United States, to certain climbing plants, some of which are poisonous to the skin, esp. to the Rhus Toxicodendron, or poison ivy. [ 1913 Webster ]

Dog's mercury (Bot.), Mercurialis perennis, a perennial plant differing from Mercurialis annua by having the leaves sessile. --
English mercury (Bot.), a kind of goosefoot formerly used as a pot herb; -- called Good King Henry. --
Horn mercury (Min.), a mineral chloride of mercury, having a semitranslucent, hornlike appearance. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. the compound (HgCl2) consisting of two atoms of chlorine united with one atom of mercury. Also called bichloride of mercury, mercuric chloride, corrosive sublimate, and mercury perchloride. It is used as “a topical antiseptic and disinfectant for inanimate objects”. Stedman's 25th [ PJC ]

n. (Chem.) The mercury salt of fulminic acid (Hg(CNO)2), called also fulminate of mercury. It is an explosive compound prepared as gray crystals, and is used primarily in detonators for detonating high explosives, such as dynamite or TNT. It is sensitive to shock and may be detonated by a blow. [ PJC ]