Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Relating to or containing mercury, especially with a valence of 2.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Related to or containing mercury.
  • In chem., specifically applied to compounds in which each atom of mercury is regarded as bivalent: as, mercuric chlorid, HgCl2.

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

  • adjective (Chem.) Of, pertaining to, or derived from, mercury; containing mercury; -- said of those compounds of mercury into which this element enters in its lowest proportion.
  • adjective corrosive sublimate. See mercury bichloride and Corrosive.

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

  • adjective obsolete, chemistry Pertaining to or derived from mercury.
  • adjective chemistry Specifically (of a compound), containing mercury with an oxidation number of 2.
  • adjective rare Mercurial (of people).

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective of or containing mercury

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From mercury +‎ -ic, partly after French mercurique.

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Examples

  • Inorganic mercury salts, such as mercuric chloride, do not enter the brain as readily as methylmercury or metallic mercury vapor.

    Public Health Statement for Mercury 2008

  • Inorganic ingestion such as mercuric chloride should be approached as the ingestion of any other serious caustic.

    Yahoo! Answers: Latest Questions 2009

  • If there is pitting on the bolt face, it may indicate the use of mercuric primers, which required (but did not guarantee) good bore maintenance.

    When looking at a used gun is there any way to tell if the barrel is shot out? 2009

  • In 1918 he found the thesis of Julius Arthur Nieuwland at Maloney Hall, a chemical laboratory at The Catholic University of America, Washington DC in which Nieuwland detailed the synthesis by the combination of allowing arsenic trichloride to react with acetylene in the presence of a hydrochloric acid solution of mercuric chloride.

    The Volokh Conspiracy » Chemical Weapons in my Neighborhood 2010

  • If there is pitting on the bolt face, it may indicate the use of mercuric primers, which required (but did not guarantee) good bore maintenance.

    When looking at a used gun is there any way to tell if the barrel is shot out? 2009

  • It was the windows here, outside the lab, that Priestley used to capture sunlight with a large burning glass, which he focussed on mercuric oxide and produced a gas with strange properties like re-lighting glowing spills and keeping mice alive.

    How oxygen was first discovered in an adventure playground Brian Clegg 2010

  • This led to the idea that internal administration of mercuric chloride -- a much more toxic form than elemental mercury or quicksilver -- would be even better, first by drinking and then by injecting it.

    Deirdre Imus: The Age of Autism 2010

  • This led to the idea that internal administration of mercuric chloride -- a much more toxic form than elemental mercury or quicksilver -- would be even better, first by drinking and then by injecting it.

    Deirdre Imus: The Age of Autism 2010

  • This led to the idea that internal administration of mercuric chloride -- a much more toxic form than elemental mercury or quicksilver -- would be even better, first by drinking and then by injecting it.

    Deirdre Imus: The Age of Autism Deirdre Imus 2010

  • It was the windows here, outside the lab, that Priestley used to capture sunlight with a large burning glass, which he focussed on mercuric oxide and produced a gas with strange properties like re-lighting glowing spills and keeping mice alive.

    Archive 2010-03-01 Brian Clegg 2010

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