Noun: mercury thermometer
- Thermometer consisting of mercury contained in a bulb at the bottom of a graduated sealed glass capillary tube marked in degrees Celsius or Fahrenheit; mercury expands with a rise in temperature causing a thin thread of mercury to rise in the tube
"The nurse used a mercury thermometer to take the patient's temperature";
- mercury-in-glass thermometer
Derived forms: mercury thermometers
Type of: thermometer
Encyclopedia: Mercury thermometer