Get Affordable VMs - excellent virtual server hosting


browse words by letter
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

quintessencemore about quintessence

quintessence


  3  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Quintessence  \Quin*tes"sence\,  v.  t. 
  To  distil  or  extract  as  a  quintessence;  to  reduce  to  a 
  quintessence.  [R.]  --Stirling.  ``Truth  quintessenced  and 
  raised  to  the  highest  power.''  --J.  A.  Symonds 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Quintessence  \Quin*tes"sence\,  n.  [F.,  fr  L.  quinta  essentia 
  fifth  essence.  See  {Quint},  and  {Essence}.] 
  1.  The  fifth  or  last  and  highest  essence  or  power  in  a 
  natural  body.  See  {Ferment  oils},  under  {Ferment}.  [Obs.] 
 
  Note:  The  ancient  Greeks  recognized  four  elements,  fire,  air, 
  water,  and  earth.  The  Pythagoreans  added  a  fifth  and 
  called  it  nether,  the  fifth  essence,  which  they  said 
  flew  upward  at  creation  and  out  of  it  the  stars  were 
  made  The  alchemists  sometimes  considered  alcohol,  or 
  the  ferment  oils,  as  the  fifth  essence. 
 
  2.  Hence:  An  extract  from  anything  containing  its  rarest 
  virtue,  or  most  subtle  and  essential  constituent  in  a 
  small  quantity;  pure  or  concentrated  essence. 
 
  Let  there  be  light,  said  God;  and  forthwith  light 
  Ethereal,  first  of  things  quintessence  pure,  Sprung 
  from  the  deep.  --Milton. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  quintessence 
  n  1:  (archaic)  the  fifth  and  highest  element  after  air  and  earth 
  and  fire  and  water;  was  believed  to  be  the  substance 
  composing  all  heavenly  bodies  [syn:  {ether}] 
  2:  the  purest  and  most  concentrated  essence  of  something 
  3:  the  most  typical  example  or  representative  of  a  type 




more about quintessence