mercurials

Noun

mercurial (plural mercurials)

1. (obsolete) Any of the plants known as mercury, especially the annual mercury or French mercury (Mercurialis annua).
2. A person born under the influence of the planet Mercury; hence, a person having an eloquent, quickwitted, furtive, or volatile character.
   • As for [Lambert] Simnell, there was not much in him, more then that hee was a handſome Boy, and did not ſhame his Robes. But this Youth (of whom wee are now to ſpeake) was ſuch a Mercuriall, as the like hath ſeldome beene knowne; and could make his owne part, if at any time hee chanced to bee out.1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret...
3. A chemical compound containing mercury.
4. (historical) A preparation of mercury, especially as a treatment for syphilis.
   • She had paſſed through the milder Remedies frequently without ſucceſs: upon which account I deſigned Mercurialls; and beginning with Venæſection, afterwards purged her with decoct. epithymi, as it is preſcribed in the method of Cure. [...] After I had thus evacuated the Plethora, and diſpoſed her...1676, Richard Wiseman, “Of Lepra, or Elephantiasis”, in Several Chirurgicall Treatises, London: Printed by E. Flesher and J[ohn] Macock, for R[ichard] Royston […], and B[enjamin] Took […], →OCLC, 1st...

See all 10 meanings of mercurial