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belong to the god Mercury; swift; active; sprightly; fickle; volatile; changeable; as, a mercurial youth; a mercurial temperament. A mercurial man Who fluttered over all things like a fan. Byron.

The morbid condition produced by the excessive use of mercury, or by exposure to its fumes, as in mining or smelting.

One under the influence of Mercury; one resembling Mercury in character.

To affect with mercury.

In a mercurial manner.

Between the planet Mercury and the sun; -- as, the hypothetical Vulcan is intramercurial.

. -- Balance thermometer, a thermometer mounted as a balance so that the movement of the mercurial column changes the indication of the tube. With the aid of electrical or mechanical devices adapted to it, it is used for the automatic regulation of the temperature of rooms warmed artificially, and as a fire alarm. --…

pended in gimbals from an arm or support on shipboard. -- Mountain barometer, a portable mercurial barometer with tripod support, and long scale, for measuring heights. -- Siphon barometer, a barometer having a tube bent like a hook with the longer leg closed at the top. The height of the mercury in the longer leg sh…

on, or itself given to dissipation (as the Monday before Lent). -- Blue ointment (Med.), mercurial ointment. -- Blue Peter (British Marine), a blue flag with a white square in the center, used as a signal for sailing, to recall boats, etc. It is a corruption of blue repeater, one of the British signal flags. -- Blue…

citron or lemon; of a lemon color; greenish yellow. Citrine ointment (Med.), a yellowish mercurial ointment, the unquentum hydrargyri nitratis.

rvail; to equiponderate; to balance. The remaining air was not able to counterbalance the mercurial cylinder. Boyle. The cstudy of mind is necessary to counterbalance and correct the influence of the study of nature. Sir W. Hamilton.

ust., under Digestive. -- Hepatic gas (Old Chem.), sulphureted hydrogen gas. -- Hepatic mercurial ore, or Hepatic cinnabar. See under Cinnabar.

A diseased condition produced by poisoning with hydrargyrum, or mercury; mercurialism.

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

Sprightly or mercurial quality; spirit; mutability; fickleness. [Obs.] He was so full of mercury that he could not fix long in any friendship, or to any design. Bp. Burnet.

An instrument for measuring degrees of heat above those indicated by the mercurial thermometer.

metal mercury; -- so called from its resemblance to liquid silver. Quicksilver horizon, a mercurial artificial horizon. See under Horizon. -- Quicksilver water, a solution of mercury nitrate used in artificial silvering; quick water.

Heavy; grave; gloomy; dull; -- the opposite of mercurial; as, a saturnine person or temper. Addison.

t, oil, or ointment, especially for medical purposes, or as a symbol of consecration; as, mercurial unction. To be heir, and to be king By sacred unction, thy deserved right. Milton.