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Mercurial   /mərkjˈʊriəl/   Listen
adjective
Mercurial  adj.  
1.
Having the qualities fabled to 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."
2.
Having the form or image of Mercury; applied to ancient guideposts. (Obs.)
3.
Of or pertaining to Mercury as the god of trade; hence, money-making; crafty. "The mercurial wand of commerce."
4.
Of or pertaining to, or containing, mercury; as, mercurial preparations, barometer. See Mercury, 2.
5.
(Med.) Caused by the use of mercury; as, mercurial sore mouth.



noun
Mercurial  n.  
1.
A person having mercurial qualities.
2.
(Med.) A preparation containing mercury.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Mercurial" Quotes from Famous Books



... the gulls were troubled in their minds, and wailed piercingly, for they seem to be mercurial in temperament, and no better weather ...
— A Dream of the North Sea • James Runciman

... another change from snow to rain, the wind shifted to the southeast, and the cold became, suddenly, very severe. According to the engineer's calculation, the mercurial column of a Fahrenheit thermometer would not have marked less than eight degrees below zero, and this intense cold, rendered still more painful by a sharp gale, lasted for several days. The colonists were again shut up in Granite House, and as it was necessary to hermetically seal all the ...
— The Mysterious Island • Jules Verne

... first few days of her residence on her land, Agnes experienced all the changes of mercurial rising and falling of spirits, plans, dreams. Some days she saddled her horse, which she had bought under the doctor's guidance at Meander, and rode, singing, over the hills, exalted by the wild beauty of nature entirely unadorned. There was not yet a house in the whole of ...
— Claim Number One • George W. (George Washington) Ogden

... and mercurial spirits of the young, something of marvellous and preternatural in that life within life, which the strong passion of science and genius forms and feeds,—that passion so much stronger than love, and so much more self-dependent; which asks no sympathy, leans on ...
— The Last Of The Barons, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... tormenting. Even a lecture-room was not exempt from these irrepressible sallies; and our tutor, who was formal and wished to be grave, but had not the gift of gravity, never felt safe in the presence of his mercurial pupil. Lockhart with great readiness comprehended the habits and tone of the new society in which he was placed, and was not for a moment wanting in any of its requirements; but this adaptive power never interfered with the marked individuality of his own character and bearing. ...
— Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Volume I (of 10) • John Gibson Lockhart


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