QUINTESSENCE

quintessence

(noun) the most typical example or representative of a type

quintessence

(noun) the purest and most concentrated essence of something

quintessence, ether

(noun) the fifth and highest element after air and earth and fire and water; was believed to be the substance composing all heavenly bodies

Source: WordNet® 3.1

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Etymology

Noun

quintessence (countable and uncountable, plural quintessences)

A thing that is the most perfect example of its type; the most perfect embodiment of something; epitome, prototype.

Synonym: Thesaurus:model

A pure substance.

Synonym: Thesaurus:non-mixture

The essence of a thing in its purest and most concentrated form.

Synonym: Thesaurus:gist

(alchemy) The fifth alchemical element, or essence, after earth, air, fire, and water

(physics) A hypothetical form of dark energy postulated to explain observations of an accelerating universe.

Verb

quintessence (third-person singular simple present quintessences, present participle quintessencing, simple past and past participle quintessenced)

(transitive) To reduce to its purest and most concentrated essence.

Source: Wiktionary

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Quin*tes"sence, n. Etym: [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.

Quin*tes"sence, v. t.

Definition: 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.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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