mercury
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈmɜː(ɹ)k.jʊ.ɹi/
enpr: mûr'kūrē
ipa: /ˈmɝ.kjə.ɹi/
ipa: /ˈmɝ.k(ə)ɹ.i/
Forms: form: mercuries
form: mercurie
form: ☿
Etymology: From Middle English mercurie, borrowed from Latin Mercurius. The chemical name comes from the planet Mercury. In medieval alchemy, the seven known metals—quicksilver, gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, and tin—were associated with the seven planets. Quicksilver was associated with the fastest planet, named after the Roman god Mercury, associated with speed and mobility. The astrological symbol for the planet became one of the alchemical symbols for the metal, and Mercury became an alternative name for the metal. Mercury is the only metal for which the alchemical planetary name survives, as it was decided it was preferable to quicksilver as a chemical name.
The chemical symbol Hg came from the Greek hydrargyrus (= liquid silver).
Senses: synonyms: word: azoth
english: in alchemy
translation: in alchemy
word: hydrargyrum
english: in medical and sometimes chemical use
translation: in medical and sometimes chemical use
word: quicksilver
english: not in technical use
translation: not in technical use
glosses: A silvery-colored, toxic, metallic chemical element, liquid at room temperature, with atomic number 80 and symbol Hg.
topics: sciences
glosses: One of the elemental principles formerly thought to be present in all metals.
examples: text: The mercury there has averaged 37.6°C, 2.3°C above the February norm.
text: As the mercury climbed in recent days – hovering at about 42C in both Seville and Córdoba – volunteers in both cities started to assemble around swift colonies, gathering up as many of the dehydrated and undernourished chicks they could find.
ref: 2022 June 16, Ashifa Kassam, “‘They’re being cooked’: baby swifts die leaving nests as heatwave hits Spain”, in The Guardian:
text: Rail temperatures are checked at Manchester Piccadilly on July 18 - the first of two consecutive days in which the mercury rose above 38°C across large parts of England.
ref: 2022 August 10, “How can we run trains when the heat is on?”, in RAIL, number 963, page 45, photo caption:
glosses: Ambient pressure or temperature (from the use of mercury in barometers and thermometers).
examples: text: He was so full of mercury that he could not fix long in any friendship, or to any design.
ref: a. 1716 (date written), [Gilbert] Burnet, edited by [Gilbert Burnet Jr.], Bishop Burnet’s History of His Own Time. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: […] Thomas Ward […], published 1724, →OCLC:
glosses: Liveliness, volatility.
examples: text: Towards the tops of the stalks and branches come forth at every joint in the male Mercury two small round green heads, standing together upon a short footstalk, which growing ripe are the seeds, not having any flower.
ref: 1653, Nicholas Culpeper, The English Physician Enlarged, Folio Society, published 2007, page 188:
glosses: Any of several types of plant.
An annual plant, annual mercury (Mercurialis annua), formerly grown for its medicinal properties; French mercury, herb mercury.
synonyms: mercurial
glosses: Any of several types of plant.
Any plant of any species of the genus and the genus Mercurialis.
glosses: Any of several types of plant.
A similar edible plant (Blitum bonus-henricus), otherwise known as English mercury or allgood.
glosses: Any of several types of plant.
The poison oak or poison ivy.
Derived terms: word: alkylmercury
word: argental mercury
taxonomic: Toxicodendron radicans
word: black mercury
word: cadmium mercury cell
word: dichloromercury
word: dimercury
word: dimethylmercury
word: dodecamercury
taxonomic: Mercurialis perennis
word: dog's mercury
word: eka-mercury
taxonomic: Blitum bonus-henricus
word: English mercury
word: ethylmercury
word: fulminate of mercury
word: green iodide of mercury
word: hexamercury
word: horn mercury
word: mercurate
word: mercurial
word: mercuriate
word: mercuriation
word: mercuric
word: mercuricals
word: mercuriferous
word: mercurify
word: mercurio-syphilis
word: mercurism
word: mercurize
word: mercuroan
word: mercurochrome
word: mercurocuprate
word: mercurous
word: mercury arc
word: mercury arc rectifier
word: mercury arc valve
word: mercury barometer
word: mercury bichloride
word: mercury dichloride
word: mercury cadmium telluride
word: mercury fulminate
word: mercury gilding
taxonomic: Blitum bonus-henricus
word: mercury goosefoot
word: mercury lamp
word: mercuryless
word: mercury of life
word: mercury perchloride
word: mercury poisoning
word: mercury pool
word: mercury protochloride
word: mercury rust
word: mercury selenide
word: mercury soap
taxonomic: Euphorbia mercurialina
word: mercury spurge
word: mercury sulfide
word: mercury sulphide
word: mercury switch
word: mercury thermometer
word: mercury-vapor lamp
word: mercury vapor lamp
word: mercury vapour lamp
word: mercury vapor pump
word: mercury vapour pump
word: mercury vapor rectifier
word: mercury vapour rectifier
word: mercury-vapour lamp
taxonomic: Acalypha spp.
word: mercury weed
word: methylmercury
word: methyl mercury
word: millimeter of mercury
word: millimetre of mercury
word: nonmercury
word: organomercury
word: oxymercuration
word: pentamercury
word: phenylmercury
word: protiodide of mercury
word: radiomercury
word: red mercury
word: tetramercury
taxonomic: Acalypha spp.
word: three-seed mercury
word: trimercury
word: vegetable mercury
Related terms: mercaptan
Mercury
blue mass
calomel
cinnabar
cinnabarite
corderoite
corrosive sublimate
Good King Henry
livingstonite
sublimate
thimerosal
thiomersal