Mercury - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Inherited from Middle English Mercurie, from Latin Mercurius.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmɜː(ɹ)kjʊɹi/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmɝkjəɹi/, /ˈmɝk(ə)ɹi/

Mercury

2. (astronomy) The first planet in the Solar system with the closest orbit to the Sun, named after the god; represented by ☿.

   • 1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros‎^[1], London: Jonathan Cape, page 1:

     Thou, first of the children of men, art come to Mercury, where thou and I will journey up and down for a season to show thee the lands and oceans, the forests, plains, and ancient mountains, cities and palaces of this world, Mercury, and the doings of them that dwell therein.

4. (Roman mythology) The Roman god associated with speed, sometimes used as a messenger, wearing winged sandals; the Roman counterpart of the Greek god Hermes.

• (astronomy, astrology): ☿

• planets of the Solar System: Mercury · Venus · Earth · Mars · Jupiter · Saturn · Uranus · Neptune ^[edit]

Solar System in English · Solar System (layout · text)
Star	Sun
IAU planets and notable dwarf planets	Mercury	Venus	Earth	Mars	Ceres	Jupiter	Saturn	Uranus	Neptune	Pluto	Eris
Notable moons	—	—	Moon	Phobos Deimos	—	Io Europa Ganymede Callisto	Mimas Enceladus Tethys Dione Rhea Titan Iapetus	Miranda Ariel Umbriel Titania Oberon	Triton	Charon	Dysnomia

Mercury (plural Mercuries)

1. (obsolete, alchemy, chemistry) Quicksilver, mercury. (No longer capitalized, as the name of the metal is no longer recognized as that of the planet.)
2. (archaic) A carrier of tidings.
   1. A newsboy, a messenger. [16th–19th c.]
   2. A footman.
   3. Someone who carries messages between lovers; a go-between. [from 17th c.]

      • 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC:

        His Mercury having made his observations, reported, that there was no body in the coach but Mrs. Hornbeck and an elderly woman, who had all the air of a duenna, and that the servant was not the same footman who had attended them in France.

   4. A newspaper. [from 17th c.]

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “Mercury”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Mercury

1. Alternative form of Mercurie