How do you use the word "mercury" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "mercury": Is mercury really a metal? That one over there is Mercury.

Mercury Meaning

/ˈmɜːkjʊɹi/

Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

nounSenses relating to the metal.

nounSenses relating to the metal., A silvery-coloured, metallic chemical element (symbol Hg) with the atomic number 80; it is liquid at room temperature, and toxic.

Sentence Examples

Is mercury really a metal?

That one over there is Mercury.

Mercury is the planet nearest to the sun.

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms:

quicksilver

Antonyms:

None

CEFR Practice Quiz

The old thermometer broke, and small silver beads of ____ spilled onto the floor.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

The ____ in the thermometer rose as the afternoon sun hit the building, indicating a very hot day.

Word Origin & History

Etymology tree Latin mercuriusder. Middle English mercurie English mercury The noun is derived from Middle English mercurie (“metallic chemical element, quicksilver; a plant, probably goosefoot (genus Chenopodium); (possibly) dog’s mercury (Mercurialis perennis); etc.”), borrowed from Late Latin mercurius (“metallic chemical element, quicksilver”), Latin Mercurius (“Mercury, the Roman god of commerce, communication, etc.; the planet Mercury; etc.”), possibly from merc-, a stem of merx (“goods, wares; merchandise”); further etymology uncertain, possibly: * from Etruscan; or * from Proto-Indo-European *merǵ- (“to divide”), or *merkʷ- (“to grasp; to take”). The suffix -urius is also thought to be from Etruscan. Noun sense 1.1 (“metallic chemical element”) is from the association in medieval alchemy of the seven known metals—gold, silver, quicksilver, copper, iron, tin, and lead—with the Sun, the Moon, and the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. An analogy was probably also drawn between the element being liquid at room temperature, and the Roman god Mercury’s attribute of swiftness. Noun sense 2 (“senses relating to plants”) is derived from mercurial (“(obsolete) any of the plants now known as mercury”, noun), from Middle English mercurial (“a plant, probably goosefoot (genus Chenopodium); (possibly) dog’s mercury (Mercurialis perennis)”, noun) from Anglo-Norman mercurial, Old French mercurial, or directly from their etymon Latin mercuriālis (“a plant, probably annual mercury (Mercurialis annua)”), short for herba mercuriālis (“(probably) annual mercury”, literally “herb or plant of the god Mercury”). Mercuriālis (“pertaining to the Roman god Mercury”, adjective) is derived from Mercurius (“the Roman god Mercury”) (see above) + -ālis (suffix forming adjectives of relationship from nouns). Noun sense 2.2.2.1 (“Blitum bonus-henricus”) is from the fact that this plant was often confused with annual mercury (noun sense 2.1). The verb is derived from the noun.

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"When therfore they perceaue a ſufficient quantitie of golde thus remaynynge on the tables, they gather it with diligence and put it in a tray or great ſhallowe dyſſhe of wod […] they beate or mixte (or amalgame it as they caule it) with Mercurie or quickſyluer, […]" — 1555, Peter Martyr of Angleria [i.e., Peter Martyr d’Anghiera], “Of the Myne of Golde and the Qualitie therof in Particular”, in Rycharde Eden [i.e., Richard Eden], transl., The Decades of the Newe Worlde or West India, […], London: […] [Rycharde Jug for] Guilhelmi Powell, →OCLC, decade, folio 335, verso:

"[I]f the inverted Tube of Mercury be but 25 Digits high, or ſomevvhat more, the Quick-ſilver vvill not fall but remain ſuſpended in the Tube; becauſe it cannot preſs the ſubjacent Mercury vvith ſo great a force, as does the incumbent Cylinder of the Air reaching thence to the top of the Atmoſphere: […]" — 1659 December 30 (date written), Robert Boyle, “[Experiment 3]”, in New Experiments Physico-Mechanicall, Touching the Spring of the Air, and Its Effects […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] H[enry] Hall, printer to the University, for Tho[mas] Robinson, published 1660, →OCLC, page 42:

"The earth is all alive and covered with papillæ. The largest pond is as sensitive to atmospheric changes as the globule of mercury in its tube." — 1854 August 9, Henry D[avid] Thoreau, “Spring”, in Walden; or, Life in the Woods, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 323:

"All at once the blood dropped out of her cheeks as the mercury drops from a broken barometer-tube, and she melted away from her seat like an image of snow; a slung-shot could not have brought her down better." — 1857–1858, Oliver Wendell Holmes [Sr.], chapter II, in The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table, Boston, Mass.: Phillips, Sampson and Company, published 1858, →OCLC, page 35:

"The summers are oppressively hot, and the winters very probably cold; but this fact cannot be ascertained precisely, as, for some peculiar reason, the mercury in these latitudes never shrinks, as in more northern regions, and thus the thermometer is rendered useless in winter." — 1857–1858, Oliver Wendell Holmes [Sr.], “V. Our Sumatra Correspondence.”, in The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table, Boston, Mass.: Phillips, Sampson and Company, published 1858, →OCLC, page 134:

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