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quicksilvermore about quicksilver

quicksilver

 

  4  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Mercury  \Mer"cu*ry\,  n.  [L.  Mercurius;  akin  to  merx  wares.] 
  1.  (Rom.  Myth.)  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. 
 
  2.  (Chem.)  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,  [mercury]. 
 
  Note:  Mercury  forms  alloys,  called  amalgams,  with  many 
  metals,  and  is  thus  used  in  applying  tin  foil  to  the 
  backs  of  mirrors,  and  in  extracting  gold  and  silver 
  from  their  ores.  It  is  poisonous,  and  is  used  in 
  medicine  in  the  free  state  as  in  blue  pill,  and  in  its 
  compounds  as  calomel,  corrosive  sublimate,  etc  It  is 
  the  only  metal  which  is  liquid  at  ordinary 
  temperatures,  and  it  solidifies  at  about  -39[deg] 
  Centigrade  to  a  soft,  malleable,  ductile  metal. 
 
  3.  (Astron.)  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. 
 
  4.  A  carrier  of  tidings;  a  newsboy;  a  messenger;  hence  also 
  a  newspaper.  --Sir  J.  Stephen.  ``The  monthly  Mercuries.'' 
  --Macaulay. 
 
  5.  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. 
 
  6.  (Bot.)  A  plant  ({Mercurialis  annua}),  of  the  Spurge 
  family,  the  leaves  of  which  are  sometimes  used  for 
  spinach,  in  Europe. 
 
  Note:  The  name  is  also  applied,  in  the  United  States,  to 
  certain  climbing  plants,  some  of  which  are  poisonous  to 
  the  skin,  esp.  to  the  {Rhus  Toxicodendron},  or  poison 
  ivy. 
 
  {Dog's  mercury}  (Bot.),  {Mercurialis  perennis},  a  perennial 
  plant  differing  from  {M.  annua}  by  having  the  leaves 
  sessile. 
 
  {English  mercury}  (Bot.),  a  kind  of  goosefoot  formerly  used 
  as  a  pot  herb;  --  called  {Good  King  Henry}. 
 
  {Horn  mercury}  (Min.),  a  mineral  chloride  of  mercury,  having 
  a  semitranslucent,  hornlike  appearance. 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Quicksilver  \Quick"sil`ver\,  n.  [Quick  living  +  silver;  --  so 
  called  from  its  fluidity;  cf  G.  quecksilber  L.  argentum 
  vivum.  See  {Quick},  a.]  (Chem.) 
  The  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. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  quicksilver 
  adj  :  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},  {mercurial}, 
  {quicksilver(a)}] 
  n  :  a  heavy  silvery  toxic  univalent  and  bivalent  metallic 
  element;  the  only  metal  that  is  liquid  at  ordinary 
  temperatures  [syn:  {mercury},  {Hg},  {atomic  number  80}] 
 
  From  The  Free  On-line  Dictionary  of  Computing  (13  Mar  01)  [foldoc]: 
 
  Quicksilver 
 
    A  {dBASE}-like  compiler  for  {MS-DOS}  from 
  {WordTech}. 
 
  (1995-05-11)




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