mercantile 
mercantile (mer'kan-til), a. [Formerly also 
mercantil; < OF. mercantil, F. mercantile = Sp. 
Pg. mercantil = It. mercantile, < ML. mercan- 
tilis, of a merchant or of trade, < L. mercan(t-)s, 
a merchant, trading : see merchant.'] 1. Of or 
3712 
This was formerly the Circus or Agonules, dedicated to 
sports and pastimes, and is now the greatest mercat of ye 
citty. Evelyn, Diary, Feb. 20, 1645. 
By order of court a mercate was erected at Boston, to be 
kept upon Thursday, the fifth day of the week. 
Wmthrop, Hist. New England, I. 148. 
pertaining to merchants, or the traffic^ carried merca tantet (mer-ka-tan'te), n. [< It. merca- 
tante (cf. Sp. mercadante = OF. mercadant, < 
It.) (equiv. to mereante), a merchant, < merca- 
tare, trade, <mercato, trading, market: seemar- 
ket, v.~\ A foreign trader. 
Tra. What is he, Biondello? 
Bion. Master, a mercatante, or a pedant, 
I know not what ; but formal in apparel. 
Shak., T. of the S., iv. 2. 63. 
[Spelled marcantant in the early editions, and mercatant 
a tivl a K ML mercativtlS 
a-tiv;, a. l\ am, mertxamms, 
of tradmg,<?ereais, trading: see market.] Ur 
on by merchants ; having to do with trade or 
commerce; trading; commercial. 
Bonrepaux . . . was esteemed an adept in the mystery 
of mercantile politics. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vi. 
2. Characteristic of the business of merchants ; 
in accord with business principles. 
It was found essential to establish the work [the "Edin- 
burgh Review "J on a sound mercantile basis, with a paid 
editor and paid writers. Sydney Smith, Wit and Wisdom. 
Mercantile law, the laws applicable to commercial trans- 
actions ; the law merchant. See law merchant, under lawi. 
Mercantile system, in polit. econ., the belief, gen- 
erally held till the end of the last century, that all wealth or belonging to trade. Coles, 1717. 
consists in gold and silver, and that therefore the expor- T\/r r rto-(-rtr'a p>iar+ t^rftiprt.ioTi See the nouns 
tation of gotds and importation of gold should be encour- ^fatOr S C ,rSu t f,v> [Y T mfrfntirrn 
aged by the state, while the importation of goods and the mercaturet (mer Ka-jur;, n. I\LI. merca uu, 
exportation of gold should be forbidden, or at least re- trade, traffic, < mercari, trade: see merchant.] 
stricted as much as possible. The act orpractice of buying and selling; corn- 
While there are so many things to render the assump- merce ; traffic ; trade. 
tion which is the basis of the mercantile system plausible, mercet ( mer s), V. t. [By apheresis from amerce.] 
there is also some small foundation in reason, though a J"^- 11 - ! * ' I 
veryinsuflicientone.forthedistinctionwhichthatsystem .loameice, mulct, nne. 
so emphatically draws between money and every other For the kynge of Egipt put him downe at Jerusalem, and 
kind of valuable possession. merced the land in an hundred talentes of sylver and a 
J. S. Mill, Pol. Econ., Prelim. Rem. talent of golde. Bible of 1551, 2 Chron. xxxvi. 3. 
Thus, the Mercantile System admits every mode of ap- merc edet. n. [ME., < L. merces (merced-), pay, 
plying the three factors of production, but considers them ""**' "* CT ,' ., L , .' -, V T pwflrri !'. _ 
really productive only in so far as they increase the quan- reward,_ bri De, etc. . S ercy. J 
tity of the precious metals possessed by the nation, either 
through the agency of mining at home or by means of 
foreign trade. W. Roscher, Pol. Econ. (trans.), I. 1C9. 
= Syn. Mercantile, Commercial. Commercial is the broad- 
er term, including the other. Mercantile applies only to 
ment; bribe. 
That ys no mede bote a mercede, 
A maner dewe dette for the doynge ; 
And bote if yt be payed prestliche the payer is to blame. 
Piers Plowman (C), Iv. 306. 
prises all such as are actually in the business of buying and 
selling. Commercial covers the whole theory and practice 
of commerce, home or foreign : as, the British are a com- 
mercial people ; commercial usages, honor, law. The word 
is applicable wherever the more varied activities of com- 
merce are concerned. 
mercantilism (mer'kan-til-izm), n. [< mercan- 
' ' 
-di'nus), n. [L.] In the Roman calendar com- 
monly ascribed to Numa Pompilius, second king 
of Kome, an intercalary month inserted every 
second year between the 23d and the 24th of 
February, and having twenty-two or twenty- 
uuxv/ivu>.x^xiu ~~- ,, - L three days. 
MeTTsm.T* iT"The"mercantiie spirit or char- mercementt (mers'ment), n. [ME., also merci- 
acter; devotion to trade and commerce ; exces- ment, mercyment; by apheresis from amerce- 
ment. Cf. merciament.] A fine; a penalty satis- 
fied by a money-payment ; a mulct. 
Brynge alle men to bowe with-oute byter wounde, 
With-oute mercement other raanslauht amenden alle 
reames. Piers Plowman (C), v. 182. 
sive importance attached to traffic, or to ex- 
change of values in any way. 
Mercantilism is drawing into its vortex the intellectual 
strength of the nation. The Century, XXXI. 311. 
2. In polit. econ., the mercantile system, or the 
theories embodied in it. See mercantile. 
Indeed, it has been justly observed that there are in him 
[Hume] several traces of a refined mercantilism, and that _.__,. ot-ioni Imar- =e> nS'vi on^ 
he represents a state of opinion in which the transition mercenariant (mei e-na n-an) 
from the old to the new views is not yet completely effected, nary + -an.] A mercenary. 
Encyc. Brit., XIX. 364. 
mercantilist (mer'kan-til-ist), n. [< mercantile 
+ -ist.] 1. A devotee of mercantilism; a be- 
liever in the supreme importance of trade and 
commerce. 2. In polit. econ.. an advocate 
of the mercantile system, or of some similar 
theory. 
The mercantilists may be best described, as Roscher has 
remarked, not by any definite economic theorem which 
they held in common, but by a set of theoretic tendencies, 
commonly found in combination, though severally prevail- 
ing in different degrees in different minds. 
Rijt so is loue a ledere and the lawe shapeth. 
Vpon man for his mysdedes the merciment he taxeth. 
Piers Plmcman (B), L 160. 
[< merce- 
Odd bands 
Of voluntaries and mercenariang. 
Marston, In Praise of Pygmalion, L 18. 
'cenarily (mer'se-na-ri-li), adv. [< merce- 
nary + -ly*.] In a mercenary manner. Imp. 
mercenariness (mer'se-na-ri-nes), n. [< mer- 
cenary + -ness.] The character of being mer- 
cenary ; venality ; regard to hire or reward ; 
action or conduct uniformly prompted by the 
love of gain or the acquisition of money as a 
chief end. 
mercantilist^ (mer"kan-ti-lis'tik), a. [< mer- 
cantilist + -ic.~] Pertaining to mercantilism, or 
to the mercantile system in political economy; 
characteristic of mercantilists. 
From the seventeenth centuiy mercantilistic views began 
to exercise a more and more marked influence upon finan- 
cial literature. Cyc. of Pol. Science, II. 197. 
mercantility (mer-kan-til'i-ti), n. [< mercan- 
tile + -ity.~] Mercantile spirit or enterprise. 
[Bare.] 
He was all on fire with mercantility. 
C. Beade, Cloister and Hearth, Ixxvi. (Dames.) 
mercaptan (mer-kap'tan), n. [So called as ab- 
sorbing mercury; < L. Mer(curius), Mercury, 
Encyc. Brit., XIX. 354. merc enary (mer'se-na-ri), a. and n. [< ME. 
mercenarie = F. mercenaire = Sp. Pg. It. nierce- 
nario, < L. mercenarius, earlier mercennariits, 
hired for pay, hireling, as noun a hired laborer, 
< merces (merced-), pay, wages, reward : see mer- 
cy.'] I. a. 1. Working or acting for reward; 
hired; serving only for gain ; selling one's ser- 
vices to the highest bidder. 
Mercenary men, which get their living by the trade of 
rowing. Coryat, Crudities, I. 214. 
Mercenary troops, . . . perfectly acquainted with every 
part of then* profession, irresistible in the field, powerful 
to defend or destroy, but defending without love and with- 
out hatred. Macaulay, Athenian Orators. 
Hence 2. Venal; sordid; actuated only by 
a\JL UlLLti 111C.LUUJ. V * N -LJ. J3A.UI \ \jtol f WO / Ui-VAUU-L Vi a a Jj_ i 1 1 11 
ML., quicksilver, mercury, + captan(t-)s, tat- h P e of reward; ready to accept dishonorable 
L-T_ -e j ' A _i ftt-ijA. T ' ^ . frn.iTi n.s. a, mfirf.pnnru rtnTip.fi nr inrlo-fi a mf.rff.- 
ing, ppr. of capture, take : see captation.'] One 
of a class of compounds analogous to alcohols, 
in which the group SH takes the place of hy- 
droxyl. They are all liquids having an offensive garlic 
odor, and form with mercuric oxid white crystalline com- 
pounds, hence their name. Methyl mercaptan (CH^SH), 
or methyl sulphydrate, is a highly offensive and volatile 
liquid. 
mercaptide (mer-kap'tid or -tid), n. [< mer- 
captan + -ide 1 .] A compound formed by the 
union of mercaptan with a metallic base. 
mercaptoic (mer-kap-to'ik), a. [< mercapt(an) 
+ -o-ic.] Derived from or having the proper- 
ties of mercaptans. 
mercatt, mercatet, [< It. mercato, < L. mer- 
catits, a market: see market.'] Same as market. 
gain: as, a mercenary prince or judge; a merce- 
nary disposition. 
This study fits a mercenary drudge. 
Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, i. 1. 
You know me too proud to stoop to mercenary insin- 
cerity. Goldsmith, To Edward Mills. 
3. Pertaining or due to hope of gain or reward ; 
done, given, etc., in return for hire; resulting 
from sordid motives: as, mercenary services ; a 
mercenary act. 
For many of our princes, woe the while, 
Lie drown'd and soak'd in mercenary blood. 
Shak., Hen. V., iv. 7. 79. 
Thus needy wits a vile revenue made, 
And verse became a mercenary trade. 
Dryden and Soame, tr. of Horace's Art of Poetry, iv. 
merchandise 
One act that from a thankful heart proceeds 
Excels ten thousand mercenary deeds. 
Covrper, Truth, 1. 224. 
= Syn. Hireling, etc. See venal. 
II. n. ; pi. mercenaries (-riz). 1. A person 
who works for pay ; especially, one who has no 
higher motive to work than love of gain. 
He was a schepherde and no mercenarie. 
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 514. 
Stationed by, as waiting a result, 
Lean silent gangs of mercenaries ceased 
Working to watch the strangers. 
Browning, Sordello. 
2. Specifically, a soldier in foreign service; 
a professional soldier. This term became common 
during the long wars of the years immediately following 
the middle ages, when professional soldiers who served 
any one who would pay them were contrasted with those 
who still followed their feudal superiors. 
This is to show, both how tyranny grows to stand in 
need of mercenary soldiers, and how those mercenaries 
are . . . firmly assured unto the tyrant. 
Raleigh, Hist. World, V. ii. 2. 
Like mercenaries, hired for home defence, 
They will not serve against their native Prince. 
Dryden, Hind and Panther, ii. 290. 
The Chief Citizens, like the noble Italians, hire Merce- 
naries to carry arms in their stead. Steele, Tatler, No. 28. 
mercer (mer'ser), n. [< ME. mercer, meercere, 
< OF. mercier, F. mercier = Pr. mercer, mercier 
= Sp. mercero = Pg. mercieiro = It. merciajo, < 
ML. merciarius (also mercerms, mercerus, after 
OF.), a trader, a dealer in small wares, < L. 
merx (mere-), merchandise : see mercy, mer- 
chant.] 1. A dealer in small wares, or in mer- 
chandise of any sort. 
A row of pins, arranged as neatly as in the papers sold 
at the mercers'. 
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, II. 539. 
2. A dealer in cloths of different sorts, espe- 
cially silk. [Eng.] 
She feels not how the land drops away, nor the acres 
melt ; nor foresees the change, when the mercer has your 
woods for her velvets. B. Jonson, Epicoene, ii. 1. 
mercerization (mer"ser-i-za'shon), n. [< mer- 
cerize + -ation.] A process of treating cot- 
ton fiber or fabrics, invented by John Mercer, 
a Lancashire calico-printer, and patented in 
1851. He discovered that the steeping of cotton cloth 
from ten to twenty minutes in caustic and syrupy potash 
lye, and then washing out the cloth with alcohol of spe- 
cific gravity 0.825, caused the texture to contract one tenth 
on drying, retaining 14.72 per cent, of potash. If soda lye 
of specific gravity 1.342 is substituted for the potash, the 
cloth shrinks one fourth and contains 9.6S per cent, of 
soda. Water abstracts all the soda, and leaves the shrunk- 
en tissue, which takes more brilliant colors in dyeing than 
unmercerized calico. Also spelled mercerisation. 
mercerize (mer'ser-iz), r. t. ; pret. and pp. mer- 
cerized, ppr. mercerizing. [< Mercer (see def. 
of mercerization) + -ize.] To treat (cotton fiber 
or fabrics) with a solution of caustic alkali ac- 
cording to the method of mercerization. Also 
spelled mercerise. 
The microscopical examination of a mercerized cotton 
fiber shows it to have lost all its original characteristics. 
Sri. Amer., N. S., LVI. 241. 
mercership (mer'ser-ship), n. [< mercer + 
-ship.] The occupation or business of amercer. 
He confesses himself to be an egregious fool to leave his 
mercership, and go to be a musqueteer. 
HmceU, Letters, ii. 62. 
mercery (mer'ser-i), n.; pi. merceries (-iz). [< 
ME. mercery, meercery, mercerie, < OF. mercerie, 
mercierie, F. mercerie (> Sp. merceria = Pg. It. 
merceria), < ML. merciaria (also mercaria, after 
OF.), the trade of a mercer, mercers' wares, < 
merciarius, amercer: see mercer.'] 1. The class 
of commodities or goods in which a mercer 
deals, as silks, woolen cloths, etc. [Eng.] 
Clothe, f urres, and other mercery. 
Berners, tr. of Froissart's Chron., I. cccciii. 
Half the shop was appropriated to grocery ; the other 
half to drapery, and a little mercery. 
Mrs. GaskeU, Sylvia's Lovers, iii. 
Serious-faced folk who buy their merceries economically 
and seldom. Fortnightly Rev., N. S., XXXIII. 75. 
2. The trade of a mercer. 
The mercery is gone from out of Lombard-street and 
Cheapside into Paternoster-row and Fleet-street. 
Graunt, Bills of Mortality. 
3. A place where mercers' wares are sold. 
merchandise (mer'chan-dlz), n. [Also mer- 
chandize; < ME. mercltandi/se, marchamidise, 
marchaundyse, < OF. marchandise, marchaun- 
dise, F. marchandise, a merchant's wares, < mar- 
chand, a merchant: see merchant.] 1. In gen- 
eral, any movable object of trade ortraffic ; that 
which is passed from hand to hand by purchase 
and sale ; specifically, the objects of commerce ; 
a commercial commodity or commercial com- 
