mercury switch

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noun Electricity.

an especially quiet switch that opens and closes an electric circuit by shifting a vial containing a pool of mercury so as to cover or uncover the contacts.

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Words nearby mercury switch

mercury barometer, mercury chloride, mercury fulminate, mercury mass, Mercury program, mercury switch, mercury-vapor lamp, mercury-vapour lamp, mercy, mercy flight, mercy killing

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use mercury switch in a sentence

However, that switch to potatoes occurred around the 19th Century.
I Ate Potato Pancakes Til I Plotzed|Emily Shire|December 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In a series of more than 20 tweets, Hatem admitted that he tried to get AQAP to switch allegiances from Zawahiri to Baghdadi.
Murder Vids Help ISIS Lure More Monsters|Thomas Joscelyn|November 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
We drive back to Asadabad in silence, where we switch cars for security reasons and begin the six hour drive back home.
Heart of Darkness: Into Afghanistan’s Taliban Valley|Matt Trevithick, Daniel Seckman|November 15, 2014|DAILY BEAST
According to Wynd, “Freddie Mercury once said he wanted to lead a Victorian life surrounded by exquisite clutter.”
Dodo Bones and Kylie’s Poo: Inside London’s Strangest New Museum|Liza Foreman|November 11, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Michlin, who was looking for ideas for a new startup company, says he felt a lightbulb switch on over his head.
The Airbnb of Home-Cooked Meals|Itay Hod|November 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He lifted his head, looked around him, and was just going to switch off the light, when he noticed the open book on his table.
Bella Donna|Robert Hichens
These have canted bay windows below them, and their pediments are surmounted by figures representing Mercury and Athæne.
Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham|Thomas T. Harman and Walter Showell
But the day he planned to start was very cold—the mercury stood twenty-seven below zero.
The Homesteader|Oscar Micheaux
Bang went the fragile bulb, as it splintered into a thousand atoms, and the mercury shot in sparkling globules over the table.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3)|Charles James Wills
Even as he spoke, Gray had found the switch, and the apartment of Kazmah became flooded with subdued light.
Dope|Sax Rohmer

British Dictionary definitions for mercury switch

mercury switch

noun

electrical engineering a switch in which a circuit is completed between two terminals by liquid mercury when the switch is tilted

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012