alembic
Americannoun
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a vessel with a beaked cap or head, formerly used in distilling.
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anything that transforms, purifies, or refines.
noun
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an obsolete type of retort used for distillation
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anything that distils or purifies
Etymology
Origin of alembic
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, variant of alambic, from Medieval Latin alambicus, from dialectal Arabic al anbīq “the still,” from Greek ámbix (stem ámbīk- ) “cup, vessel with a spout”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Although he relished putting his life into his art, he boiled life in his poet’s alembic at a pretty high temperature, and much of the who, when, and how was volatilized away.
From The New Yorker ● Feb. 2, 2017
London’s smallest museum and gin symposium lab, The Ginstitute, houses a unique collection of gin related memorabilia including Jerry Thomas’ business card and is home to a 30L alembic still, named Copernicus the Second.
From Forbes ● Apr. 17, 2015
There was, in him, such a simmer of emotions, like chemicals thrown together in an alembic: fear like a sulfur fog, bitterness as sharp as salt, and damned fickle mercury for failure and desperation.
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
The world's hate is their alembic of purification.
From Heroic Spain by O'Reilly, Elizabeth Boyle
But though in some sense her work was portraiture, it was portraiture passed through the alembic of her brilliant genius, from commonplace material distilled into the finest essence.
From Women Novelists of Queen Victoria's Reign A Book of Appreciations by Alexander, Mrs.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
