Mercurial

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Mercurial \Mer*cu"ri*al\, a. [L. mercurialis, fr. Mercurius
     Mercury: cf. F. mercuriel.]
     1. Having the qualities fabled to belong to the god Mercury;
        swift; active; sprightly; fickle; volatile; changeable;
        as, a mercurial youth; a mercurial temperament.
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              A mercurial man
              Who fluttered over all things like a fan. --Byron.
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     2. Having the form or image of Mercury; -- applied to ancient
        guideposts. [Obs.] --Chillingworth.
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     3. Of or pertaining to Mercury as the god of trade; hence,
        money-making; crafty.
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              The mercurial wand of commerce.       --J. Q. Adams.
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     4. Of or pertaining to, or containing, mercury; as, mercurial
        preparations, barometer. See {Mercury}, 2.
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     5. (Med.) Caused by the use of mercury; as, mercurial sore
        mouth.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Mercurial \Mer*cu"ri*al\, n.
     1. A person having mercurial qualities. --Bacon.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Med.) A preparation containing mercury.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  mercurial
       adj 1: liable to sudden unpredictable change; "erratic behavior";
              "fickle weather"; "mercurial twists of temperament";
              "a quicksilver character, cool and willful at one
              moment, utterly fragile the next" [syn: {erratic}, {fickle},
               {quicksilver(a)}]
       2: relating to or under the (astrological) influence of the
          planet Mercury; "the Mercurial canals"
       3: relating to or having characteristics (eloquence,
          shrewdness, swiftness, thievishness) attributed to the god
          Mercury; "more than Mercurial thievishness"
       4: relating to or containing or caused by mercury; "mercurial
          preparations"; "mercurial sore mouth"

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  236 Moby Thesaurus words for "mercurial":
     active, activist, activistic, adrift, adroit, afloat, agile, alive,
     alternating, ambitendent, ambivalent, amorphous, animated,
     at loose ends, aureate, bouncing, bouncy, brass, brassy, brazen,
     breakneck, breezy, brisk, bronze, bronzy, bubbly, buoyant,
     capricious, changeable, changeful, changing, chipper, choppy,
     clever, copper, coppery, coquettish, cunning, cupreous, cuprous,
     dashing, desultory, deviable, deviating, deviative, deviatory,
     different, disorderly, divaricate, divergent, diversified,
     diversiform, dizzy, double-minded, double-quick, dubious,
     eagle-winged, ebullient, eccentric, effervescent, elastic,
     energetic, erose, erratic, expansive, expeditious, express,
     faddish, fast, fast and loose, fence-sitting, fence-straddling,
     ferrous, ferruginous, fickle, fitful, fleet, flickering, flighty,
     flirtatious, flitting, fluctuating, flying, freakish, frisky,
     full of go, full of life, full of pep, galloping, giddy, gilt,
     gold, gold-filled, gold-plated, golden, hair-trigger, hasty,
     headlong, hustling, impetuous, impulsive, inconsistent, inconstant,
     indecisive, infirm, infirm of purpose, ingenious, iron, ironlike,
     irregular, irresolute, irresolved, irresponsible, jagged, jerky,
     lead, leaden, light, light of heel, light-footed, live, lively,
     lubricious, mazy, mercurous, militant, mobile, moody, motley,
     movable, mugwumpian, mugwumpish, mutable, nickel, nickelic,
     nickeline, nimble, nimble-footed, nonconformist, nonstandard,
     nonuniform, of two minds, peppy, perky, pert, pewter, pewtery,
     pluralistic, precipitate, prompt, quick, quick as lightning,
     quick as thought, quicksilver, ragged, rambling, rapid, reckless,
     resilient, restless, rough, roving, running, scatterbrained,
     shapeless, shifting, shifty, shuffling, silver, silver-plated,
     silvery, skittish, smacking, snappy, spanking, spasmodic, speedy,
     spineless, spirited, sporadic, sprightly, spry, steel, steely,
     swift, temperamental, ticklish, tin, tinny, toying, unaccountable,
     uncertain, uncontrolled, undecided, undependable, undetermined,
     undisciplined, unequable, unequal, uneven, unfixed, unorthodox,
     unpredictable, unreliable, unresolved, unrestrained, unsettled,
     unstable, unstable as water, unstaid, unsteadfast, unsteady,
     unsystematic, ununiform, vacillating, vagrant, variable,
     variegated, variform, various, varying, versatile, vicissitudinary,
     vicissitudinous, vivacious, volatile, wandering, wanton, wavering,
     wavery, wavy, wayward, whimsical, winged, wishy-washy, zingy