Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To be capricious or fantastic.
  • To treat or impregnate with mercury, as by exposure to its vapor, or immersion in a chemical solution of it.
  • In medicine, to affect with mercury, as the bodily system; bring under the influence of mercury. Also spelled mercurialise.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb obsolete To be sprightly, fantastic, or capricious.
  • transitive verb (Med.) To affect with mercury.
  • transitive verb (Photography) To treat with mercury; to expose to the vapor of mercury.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb chemistry, transitive To treat with mercury (the metal).
  • verb obsolete To be sprightly, fantastic, or capricious.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

mercurial +‎ -ize

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Examples

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Comments

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  • (verb) - (1) To be humorous, new-fangled, fantastical.

    --Rev. John Boag's Imperial Lexicon of the English Language, c.1850

    (2) Mercurie is much used among other pot-hearbs . . . It is very good to be used in broths or pottage for such as are costive and subject to obstructions.

    --Thomas Venner's Via Recta: The Right Way of Living, 1650

    January 14, 2018