mercurialn.adj.
/məːˈkjʊərɪəl/, U.S. /mərˈkjʊriəl/ A. n.† 1. Any of the plants called mercury; esp. French Mercury, Mercurialis annua. Cf. mercury n. 10. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular vegetables > [noun] > culinary herbs > allgood
mercuriala1300
smear-dockc1325
papwort?a1425
mercuryc1450
allgood1578
good Henry1578
smear-docken1775
mercury goosefoot1853
a1300 in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 559/2 (MED) Mercurialis, i. euenlesten, i. mercurial.
?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 178v (MED) Mercuriale is an herbe fri. & hu. in primo with maturacioun.
c1425 tr. J. Arderne Treat. Fistula (Sloane 6) (1910) 93 (MED) If oile of violettz with euen porcion of iuyse of Mercurial [glossed smerwort] be ȝetted in by a clistery..it remolleþ softely þe bowelez.
1569 E. Fenton tr. P. Boaistuau Certaine Secrete Wonders Nature f. 26 Who dippes or rubbes his hands in the iuyce of Mauue or Mercurial, shal neuer be endomaged with the furie of any flame or fire.
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 693 Take as much Mercurial sodden, as ones hand can hold,..and drinke the same.
1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §41 Medecines Emollient; Such as are Milk, Honey, Mallowes, Lettuce, Mercuriall [etc.].
2. Astrology. A person born under the influence of the planet Mercury, or having the qualities supposed to result from such a birth; a lively, quick-witted, or volatile person; (occasionally) †a cheat, a thief (obsolete). Also with the and plural agreement: such people as a class. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the universe > planet > primary planet > inferior planet > [noun] > Mercury > person born under
mercurial1556
Mercurialist1566
Mercurianc1576
the mind > emotion > excitement > excitability of temperament > spiritedness or liveliness > [noun] > mercurial spirits > person
mercurial1556
the world > the universe > planet > primary planet > inferior planet > [noun] > Mercury > person born under > having qualities of
mercurial1556
Mercurialist1566
Mercurist1602
the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > thief > [noun] > habitual or kleptomaniac
mercurial1615
Mercurialist1644
village butler1795
kleptomaniac1861
klep1889
klepto1958
1556 T. Hill tr. B. Cocles Brief Epitomye Phisiognomie sig. D3 v The face leane declareth that man to be warye or wittie, circumspect in hys doinges, fatigable, of a good understandyng as the mercuriales haue..and dysdaynfull.
1615 T. Tomkis Albumazar i. i. sig. B Come braue Mercurials sublim'd in cheating,..fellow-souldiers I'th' watchfull exercise of Theevery.
1622 F. Bacon Hist. Raigne Henry VII 113 This Youth..was such a Mercuriall, as the like hath seldome beene knowne.
1650 R. Gentilis tr. V. Malvezzi Considerations Lives Alcibiades & Corialanus 156 The Mercurials with their swiftnesse run over all things.
1702 W. Penn More Fruits of Solitude §76. 30 The Mercurial too often happen to leave Judgment behind them, and sometimes make Work for Repentance.
1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 179. ¶1 I May cast my Readers unto two general Divisions, the Mercurial and the Saturnine.
1995 M. Haslam Whole Bauble 20 I shouldn't say that some mercurials were drawn to that campaign.
3. † a. A person taking mercury as a treatment for syphilis. Obsolete. rare.
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1612 J. Cotta Short Discouerie Dangers Ignorant Practisers Physicke 6 I might giue other instance in these well knowne and vulgar remedies of the named French disease, which..leave behinde them such a rottennes, and weaknesse ofttimes of the bones and sinewes, as suffereth few of our Mercurials to liue.
b. A preparation of mercury used medicinally, esp. as a treatment for syphilis (cf. mercury n. 7b) (now rare or historical). Later also: any compound containing mercury.
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the world > health and disease > healing > medicines or physic > medical preparations of specific origin > mineral medicine > [noun] > medicine prepared from mercury
mercury1617
blue pill1670
calomel1676
mercurial1676
silver-pill1753
blue mass1823
panacea of mercury1823
grey powder1842
the world > matter > chemistry > elements and compounds > metals > specific elements > mercury > [noun] > compounds
sublimate1543
precipitate1563
red mercury1582
quicksilver extinct1610
red precipitate1676
mercury fulminate1904
methylmercury1915
mercurochrome1919
mercurial1971
1676 R. Wiseman Severall Chirurg. Treat. vii. iv. 40 By Mercurials we do more certainly resolve them [sc. nodes] and in a less time.
1716 M. Davies Athenæ Britannicæ II. 352 The great Pox, which can scarce ever be cur'd without Viperals or Mercurials.
1733 H. Bracken in W. Burdon Gentleman's Pocket-farrier (new ed.) 71 The Cure is perform'd..by Mercurials outwardly and inwardly.
1829 R. Christison Treat. Poisons xii. 316 The blue ointment, which is made with running quicksilver, will act as a mercurial when rubbed upon the skin.
1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VI. 151 The judicious employment of mercurials might prove highly beneficial.
1966 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. (rev. ed.) I. 483/1 The most important of the organic mercurials are phenylmercuric nitrate and acetate.
1971 Nature 23 July 222/1 The build-up of alkyl mercurials in the environment and their toxicological properties was the subject of many of the contributions.
1984 J. W. Deacon Introd. Mod. Mycol. (ed. 2) xiv. 219 About 90 per cent of winter wheat in Britain is seed-treated with organic mercurials.
B. adj.
I. Senses relating to the planet.
1. † b. Palmistry. [Used with reference to Mercury's status as the smallest planet (prior to the discovery of Pluto).] Designating the little finger. Obsolete.Apparently an isolated use.
a. Of or belonging to the planet Mercury; †proceeding from the influence of Mercury (obsolete).
ΘΚΠ
the world > the universe > planet > primary planet > inferior planet > [adjective] > Mercury
mercuriala1393
Mercurian1846
the world > the universe > planet > primary planet > inferior planet > [adjective] > Mercury > influence
mercuriala1393
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) vii. 1357 The sexte..Canis minor is; The which sterre is Mercurial Be weie of kinde.
c1487 J. Skelton tr. Diodorus Siculus Bibliotheca Historica iii. 176 They name that sterres Mercuriall that among othere that be fixed..pronosticate by theire portentuous aspect such aduenture as aftreward shuld ensew.
1625 J. Hart Anat. Urines ii. x. 120 Wilt thou..maintaine, that all Mercuriall diseases are seated in the head onely?
1665 R. Lovell Παμβοτανολογια (ed. 2) 24 The Solar Planets [read Plants], have a good shape, yellow flower, good smell and taste... The Mercurial, verticolor, flowered, [etc.].
a1668 W. Waller Divine Medit. (1839) 40 Generally men are like that mercurial planet, good or bad according to their conjunction with others.
1690 W. Leybourn Cursus mathematicus f. 451v I shall forbear to add those distinctions which some have given them [sc. Comets] in reference to the Planets, they making them some Solar, others Lunar, Mercurial..and Saturnine.
1752 M. Browne Ess. on Universe (new ed.) iii, in Wks. & Rest of Creation 66 Who can tell but Solar Clouds may aid Mercurial Skies, and yield a gelid Shade?
1862 G. Wilson Religio Chemici 59 The mercurial day being, like our own, twenty-four hours long.
1881 R. A. Proctor Poetry of Astron. vii. 252 The Mercurial climate.
1901 G. P. Serviss Other Worlds ii. 38 At the sunward edge of these regions, once in eighty-eight days, or once in a Mercurial year, the sun rises to an elevation of forty-seven degrees.
1924 C. E. O. Carter Conc. Encycl. Psychol. Astrol. 81 We see the faculty of artistic imagination denoted by the mixture of Lunar, Mercurial and Venusian action.
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1612 B. Jonson Alchemist i. iii. sig. C3 Svb... I knew't, by certaine spotts too, in his teeth, And on the nayle of his Mercurial finger. Fac. Which finger's that? Svb. His little finger. View more context for this quotation
2. Astrology. Of a person: born under the influence of the planet Mercury; having the particular qualities regarded as a consequence of this (see also sense B. 7).These qualities, including eloquence, ingenuity, and aptitude for commerce, are identical with those assigned to the Roman god, or supposed to be inspired by him. Hence in some quots. the sense is difficult to distinguish from sense A. 3a.
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the world > action or operation > ability > skill or skilfulness > [adjective] > ingenious > by nativity
mercurial1593
Mercurian1596
the world > the universe > planet > primary planet > inferior planet > [adjective] > Mercury > born under
mercurial1593
Mercurian1596
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > vigour or force > [adjective] > of persons: forcible in expression
eloquent1393
mercurial1593
Mercurian1596
eloquious1599
1593 G. Harvey Pierces Supererogation 25 You that intende to be fine companionable gentlemen,..enure your Mercuriall fingers to frame semblable workes of Supererogation.
1647 W. Lilly Christian Astrol. lxxix. 438 Mercuriall men, viz. Schollars, or Divines would be his enemies.
1652 T. Urquhart Εκσκυβαλαυρον 136 He speaks too well to be valiant: he is certainly more Mercurial then military.
1691 A. Wood Athenæ Oxonienses I. 287 His mind being more Martial than Mercurial, he [sc. W. Monson] applied himself to Sea-service.
1928 E. Adams Astrol. 74 The mercurial type of Virgo native is a very different object.
1987 N. Campion Pract. Astrologer (1993) ii. 17/1 In the modern world thinking machines–computers–are a Mercurial development.
II. Senses relating to the god.
3. † b. Of or relating to thieves or tricksters. Obsolete.Apparently an isolated use.
a. Of or relating to the Roman god Mercury; resembling or characteristic of Mercury. Now rare except as shading into sense B. 7.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the supernatural > deity > classical deity > [adjective] > relating to Hermes or Mercury
mercurialc1487
Mercurian1776
hermetica1891
c1487 J. Skelton tr. Diodorus Siculus Bibliotheca Historica i. 102 These artyficers cast vp and leue their first ocupacion, enforsynge theym-self vnto other besynes, as to marchaundyse, or to other science mercuryal.
1570 J. Dee in H. Billingsley tr. Euclid Elements Geom. Math. Præf. sig. ☞v And commyng short of high intellectuall conception, are the Mercurial fruite of Dianœticall discourse, in perfect imagination subsistyng.
1594 2nd Rep. Dr. Faustus xx. sig. Hv In his hand a Caduceus or a Mercuriall Rod in the same white siluer colour.
1601 B. Jonson Fountaine of Selfe-love v. ii. sig. K3v A Petasus, or Mercuriall Hat. View more context for this quotation
a1616 W. Shakespeare Cymbeline (1623) iv. ii. 312 I know the shape of 's Legge: this is his Hand, His Foote Mercuriall: his martiall Thigh, The brawns of Hercules. View more context for this quotation
1637 W. Alexander Paraenesis to Prince in Recreat. Muses ii. 300 O! how this (deare Prince) the people charmes,..To see thee yong, yet manage so thine Armes, Have a Mercuriall minde, and Martiall hands.
1874 J. A. Symonds Sketches Italy & Greece (1898) I. xiii. 285 A mercurial poise upon the ankle.
1996 M. Syal Anita & Me (1997) i. 12 She was wearing one of her slop-around outfits, a faded Punjabi suit whose billowing trousers rippled in the breeze, mercurial wings fluttering at her ankles.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > taking > stealing or theft > thief > [adjective]
mercurial1744
1744 P. Whitehead Gymnasiad i. 16 (note) Tricking, Lying, Evasion,..are a Sort of Properties pertaining to the Practice of the Law, as well as to the mercurial Profession.
III. Senses relating to the metal.
4. Of or relating to metallic mercury (quicksilver); consisting of or containing mercury.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > elements and compounds > metals > specific elements > mercury > [adjective]
mercurial1559
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > metal > base metal > [adjective] > mercury
mercurial1559
quicksilvery1611
hydrargyrous1646
hydrargyral1664
hydrargyric1854
hydrargyrate1864
1559 P. Morwyng tr. C. Gesner Treasure of Euonymus 333 Mattheolus Senesis..wryteth that the pouder Mercurial may bee made of such a mixture.
1609 T. Heywood Troia Britanica viii. xv. 173 All your Mercuriall mixtures then dispyse, For your Vermillion tinctures take no care.
1660 R. Boyle New Exper. Physico-mechanicall xvii. 108 The height of the Mercurial Cylinder.
1693 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 17 652 The precise nicety of the Mercurial Barometers.
1732 E. Boyd Happy-unfortunate 328 A mercurial Potion she had taken, that join'd with her Sorrows had distracted her.
1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. 477 Mercurial Gauge, a curved tube partly filled with mercury, to show the pressure of steam in an engine.
1878 T. H. Huxley Physiography (ed. 2) 78 He obtained it from the red mercurial powder.
1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 685/1 The Castner–Kellner process employs no diaphragm, but a mercurial cathode.
1988 B. Chatwin Utz 108 Most porcelain experts..interpreted Böttger's discovery as the utilitarian by-product of alchemy—like Paracelsus's mercurial cure for syphilis.
5. History of Science. Relating to or consisting of mercury as one of the elemental principles of bodies: see mercury n. 8. Now historical.
ΚΠ
1605 T. Tymme tr. J. Du Chesne Pract. Chymicall & Hermeticall Physicke i. v. 20 Sal amoniac doth participate of the mercurial beginning.
1633 J. Hart Κλινικη ii. xvii. 206 The mercuriall or waterish part [of milk] called serum.
1994 W. R. Newman Gehennical Fire iv. 161 This is in thye back of his mind when Philalethes says that an external sulfur is ‘concoagulated’ to the mercurial substance of the metals.
6. Medicine. Originally: caused or affected by treatment with mercurials (now historical). Later: caused by exposure to mercury or mercurial compounds.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > [adjective] > other disorders
opplete1545
inverted1598
mercurial1786
lesioned1821
lesional1834
radicular1877
1744 G. Berkeley Siris (ESTC T72826) §100 A mercurial salivation is looked on by many as the only cure.
1786 J. Hunter Treat. Venereal Dis. vi. iii. 337 The gums, inside of the cheeks, and the breath, were truly mercurial.
1807 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 17 379 What the author calls the mercurial rash, or, as it is called by some others, the Lepra mercurialis.
1843 R. J. Graves Syst. Clin. Med. xxviii. 362 An eruption, to which the name mercurial eczema has been given.
1873 W. F. Clarke Dis. Tongue 105 But happily ‘mercurial glossitis’ is now seldom seen.
1951 A. Grollman Pharmacol. & Therapeutics xxxi. 732 Mercurial poisoning is sometimes accompanied by a leukocytosis.
1988 Chest 94 554 (title) Acute mercury poisoning and mercurial pneumonitis from gold ore purification.
2000 Industr. Health 38 153 Mercurial erethism, which is characterized by behavioral and personality changes such as extreme shyness, excitability, loss of memory, and insomnia.
IV. Extended uses.
7. Of a person: having a lively, volatile, or restless nature; liable to sudden and unpredictable changes of mind or mood; quick-witted, imaginative. Later also gen. (applied to animals, phenomena, etc.,): changeable, unpredictable, fickle.Originally such qualities were associated with the god or the planet; the sense is now usually understood to allude to the properties of mercury the metal.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > intelligence, cleverness > wit, wittiness > [adjective]
quainta1250
conceitive1579
conceited1583
conceity1589
conceitful1594
wittya1616
sharply-conceived1630
smart1639
mercurial1647
spiritual1701
wittified1742
scintillant1764
witful1765
the mind > emotion > excitement > excitability of temperament > spiritedness or liveliness > [adjective] > mercurial
mercurious1591
mercurial1647
the mind > will > decision > irresolution or vacillation > inconstancy > [adjective] > capricious or whimsical
startfulmood?a1300
wildc1350
volage?a1366
gerfulc1374
geryc1386
wild-headeda1400
skittishc1412
gerish1430
shittle1440
shittle-witted1448
runningc1449
volageous1487
glaikit1488
fantasious1490
giggish1523
tickle or light of the sear?1530
fantastical1531
wayward1531
wantona1538
peevish1539
light-headed1549
humoral1573
unstaid1579
shittle-headed1580
toy-headed1581
fangled1587
humorous1589
choiceful1591
toyish1598
tricksy1598
skip-brain1603
capricious1605
humoursome1607
planetary1607
vertiginous1609
whimsieda1625
ingiddied1628
whimsy1637
toysome1638
cocklec1640
mercurial1647
garish1650
maggoty1650
kicksey-winseya1652
freakish1653
humourish1653
planetic1653
whimsical1653
shittle-braineda1655
freaking1663
maggoty-headed1667
maggot-pated1681
hoity-toity1690
maggotish1693
maggot-headeda1695
whimsy-headed1699
fantasque1701
crotchetly1702
quixotic1718
volatile1719
holloweda1734
conundrumical1743
flighty1768
fly-away1775
dizzy1780
whimmy1785
shy1787
whimming1787
quirky1789
notional1791
tricksome1815
vagarish1819
freakful1820
faddy1824
moodish1827
mawky1837
erratic1841
rockety1843
quirkish1848
maggoty-pated1850
crotchetya1854
freaksome1854
faddish1855
vagrom1882
fantasied1883
vagarisome1883
on-and-offish1888
tricksical1889
freaky1891
hobby-horsical1893
quirksome1896
temperamental1907
up and down1960
untogether1969
fanciful-
fantastic-
1647 J. Trapp Comm. Epist. & Rev. (James i. 1) The most nimble and Mercuriall wits in the world, but light.
1655 T. Fuller Church-hist. Brit. v. 172 So was he none of the most Mercurial amongst the Conclave of Cardinals, but a good heavy man.
1709 R. Steele Tatler No. 30. ⁋3 One of them was a mercurial gay-humour'd Man.
1798 G. Colman Blue-beard ii. iv. 43 The mercurial spirit of an enamour'd mind consolidates a volume, ere Commerce, dozing o'er his Day-book, can plod a page.
1827 B. Disraeli Vivian Grey III. v. ix. 178 The gay, gallant, mercurial Frenchman.
1850 ‘H. Hieover’ Pract. Horsemanship 157 I had one of these light-hearted mercurial sort, who..would trip 20 times in a mile, but he was always too much on the alert to let the trip generate into a stumble.
1873 W. H. Dixon Hist. Two Queens I. ii. iii. 84 The people were a quick, mercurial, and artistic race.
1903 Contemp. Rev. Sept. 327 That curious, monkeyish, mercurial person M. Guyot de Montpeyroux.
1958 J. K. Galbraith Affluent Society xvi. 184 The most mercurial source of spending in the economy has long been recognised to be that for business investment.
1986 Early Music 14 424/2 This mercurial style.
1989 Guitar Player Mar. 41/1 He was a down-to-earth, soulful guy with a mercurial mind.
Compounds
mercurial ointment n. now chiefly historical an ointment containing mercury or one of its compounds.
ΚΠ
1658 W. Johnson tr. F. Würtz Surgeons Guid ii. xviii. 129 Mercurial Ointment is good for lameness and pocky biles.
1786 J. Hunter Treat. Venereal Dis. vi. i. 311 He rubbed in..mercurial ointment, and had a slight spitting.
1875 A. S. Taylor Poisons (ed. 3) 361 Blue pill and Mercurial ointment are preparations in which the metal mercury is finely reduced.
1967 Martindale's Extra Pharmacopoeia (ed. 25) 763/1 Pink disease has recently been reported to have resulted from the use of calomel dusting-powders and mercurial ointments in the treatment of napkin rash.
ΚΠ
1885 Cassell's Encycl. Dict. IV. ii Mercurial-palsy, mercurial-tremors, a kind of palsy produced by the abuse of mercury.
mercurial pendulum n. a compensation pendulum with a cylindrical bob containing mercury, whose upward expansion by heat counteracts the lengthening of the rod.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > instruments for measuring time > clock > [noun] > pendulum clock > pendulum
pendule1660
pendulum1660
simple pendulum1673
bob-pendulum1685
swing1696
quicksilver pendulum1726
pendle1741
gridiron pendulum1751
mercurial pendulum1786
gridiron1793
wanrest1794
seconds pendulum1795
conical pendulum1813
ticker1821
noddy1844
1786 E. Chambers Cycl. (new ed.) III. at Pendulum The mercurial pendulum was the invention of Mr. Graham..in 1715.
1819 A. Rees Cycl. XXVI. at Pendulum Graham's mercurial pendulum..may be considered as the first compensating pendulum.
1881 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockmakers' Handbk. (ed. 4) 84 In the mercurial pendulum the jar of mercury does not answer so quickly to a change of temperature as the steel rod.
1962 E. Bruton Dict. Clocks & Watches 112 Mercurial pendulum, a form of temperature compensation invented by George Graham in 1721.
mercurial phosphorus n. [compare scientific Latin phosphorus mercurialis (1741)] liquid mercury in an evacuated glass tube, capable of emitting light (by electrostatic discharges) when shaken.
ΚΠ
1706 F. Hauksbee in Philos. Trans. 1704–05 (Royal Soc.) 24 2129 Several Experiments on the Mercurial Phosphorus, made before the Royal Society.
1929 Science 18 Jan. 75/2 Tubes of this kind have sometimes been designated as ‘mercurial phosphorus’ and ‘Geissler's shaking tubes’.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > aspects of travel > guidance in travel > [noun] > that which guides or leads > signpost or stone
Mercury's finger1589
signpost1597
mercurial statue1638
way-post1647
mercury1668
mercury's statue1684
mercurial stone1716
waywiser1725
guide-post1761
cross in the hands1762
fingerpost1762
guide stone1762
handpost1764
parson1785
fingerboard1793
direction-post1795
guide-board1810
signboard1829
handing-post1837
directing-post1876
1638 W. Chillingworth Relig. Protestants i. iii. §34. 146 As the Wisemen were led by the Starre, or as a traveller is directed by a Mercuriall statue.
1662 J. Graunt Nat. & Polit. Observ. Bills Mortality iii. 23 Our Bills, which we intend..as Mercurial Statues to point out the most dangerous ways.
mercurial stone n. now historical = mercury n. 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > aspects of travel > guidance in travel > [noun] > that which guides or leads > signpost or stone
Mercury's finger1589
signpost1597
mercurial statue1638
way-post1647
mercury1668
mercury's statue1684
mercurial stone1716
waywiser1725
guide-post1761
cross in the hands1762
fingerpost1762
guide stone1762
handpost1764
parson1785
fingerboard1793
direction-post1795
guide-board1810
signboard1829
handing-post1837
directing-post1876
1716 T. Hearne Remarks & Coll. (1901) V. 282 I take them to be old mile Stones, or Mercurial Stones.
1987 Representations 17 23 (note) A signpost or milestone (‘mercurial stone’).
ΚΠ
1800 H. Davy Res. Nitrous Oxide i. ii. 58 A great quantity of gas was collected in the water apparatus; of this the first portions were rejected, and the last transferred to the mercurial trough.
1880 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 171 1025 One of these flasks having been carefully filled with mercury and inverted over the mercurial trough, the hydrogen was collected in it.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2001; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.adj.a1300