cupel
Americannoun
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a small, cuplike, porous container, usually made of bone ash, used in assaying, as for separating gold and silver from lead.
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a receptacle or furnace bottom in which silver is refined.
verb (used with object)
noun
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a refractory pot in which gold or silver is refined
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a small porous bowl made of bone ash in which gold and silver are recovered from a lead button during assaying
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of cupel
1595–1605; < Medieval Latin cūpella, equivalent to Latin cūp ( a ) tub + -ella diminutive suffix
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.
See Examples For:
Then take the crucible out of the hoop, shake off the button when it has cooled, and when it has been cleansed, melt first in the scorifier and afterward in the cupel.
From De Re Metallica, Translated from the First Latin Edition of 1556 by Georgius Agricola
Then take the beads out of the cupel and clean them of dross.
From De Re Metallica, Translated from the First Latin Edition of 1556 by Georgius Agricola
Afterward take the button, place it on a cupel, blow on it till it melts.
From De Re Metallica, Translated from the First Latin Edition of 1556 by Georgius Agricola
If you also wish to know what portion of silver is contained in the lead, melt the lead in the cupel until all of it exhales.
From De Re Metallica, Translated from the First Latin Edition of 1556 by Georgius Agricola
The cupel, when the lead and copper are wanting, attracts the particles of gold and silver, and absorbs them.
From De Re Metallica, Translated from the First Latin Edition of 1556 by Georgius Agricola
The lead is then folded over, with the help of two pins; and cupelled.
From A Text-book of Assaying: For the Use of Those Connected with Mines. by Cornelius Beringer
This should be melted down in a small crucible, and the resulting button of lead cupelled.
From A Text-book of Assaying: For the Use of Those Connected with Mines. by Cornelius Beringer
Effect of Varying Lead.—In each experiment 0.4 gram of silver was taken and cupelled with the lead.
From A Text-book of Assaying: For the Use of Those Connected with Mines. by Cornelius Beringer
The lead button is then cupelled on a very fine cupel, as already described.
From A Text-book of Assaying: For the Use of Those Connected with Mines. by Cornelius Beringer
M. Marie afterwards took from one of the geodes a pinch of powder weighing about half a gramme, and cupelled a bright dust-shot bead weighing not less than two centigrammes.
From The Land of Midian — Volume 1 by Sir Richard Francis Burton
The determination may also be made by cupelling the button of lead got in the dry lead assay.
From A Text-book of Assaying: For the Use of Those Connected with Mines. by Cornelius Beringer
Similarly, cupelling 0.1 gram, the resulting button may be 0.098; the absolute loss is only 0.002 gram, but this equals 2 per cent. of the silver present.
From A Text-book of Assaying: For the Use of Those Connected with Mines. by Cornelius Beringer
It is easy to determine what allowance must be made for the loss in cupellation by cupelling side by side with the assay piece an alloy of similar and known composition.
From A Text-book of Assaying: For the Use of Those Connected with Mines. by Cornelius Beringer
Suppose we have an alloy of silver and lead in unknown proportions and that by cupelling two lots of 10 grams each there is got from I. 0.1226 gram of silver, and from II.
From A Text-book of Assaying: For the Use of Those Connected with Mines. by Cornelius Beringer
Silver, &c., in gold bullion.—The base metals are generally determined by cupelling .5 gram of the alloy with 5 grams of lead.
From A Text-book of Assaying: For the Use of Those Connected with Mines. by Cornelius Beringer
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.
