Definition of mercury

• n. - 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.
• n. - 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, ect. 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, /.
• n. - 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.
• n. - A carrier of tidings; a newsboy; a messenger; hence, also, a newspaper.
• n. - Sprightly or mercurial quality; spirit; mutability; fickleness.
• n. - A plant (Mercurialis annua), of the Spurge family, the leaves of which are sometimes used for spinach, in Europe.
• v. t. - To wash with a preparation of mercury.