cupel
[kyoo-puh l, kyoo-pel]
- a small, cuplike, porous container, usually made of bone ash, used in assaying, as for separating gold and silver from lead.
- a receptacle or furnace bottom in which silver is refined.
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- to heat or refine in a cupel.
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Origin of cupel
1595–1605; < Medieval Latin cūpella, equivalent to Latin cūp(a) tub + -ella diminutive suffix
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for cupel
Historical Examples of cupel
That which would remain in the cupel if one should assay a phantom.
The Devil's DictionaryAmbrose Bierce
Money is to be the cupel of their worth, as it is of all other classes.
TancredBenjamin Disraeli
The base metals oxydize and are absorbed with the lead into the pores of the cupel.
Roughing ItMark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
It was observed that, in this case, a portion of the silver had passed into the cupel.
Unlike silver, gold will bear the highest heat of the furnace without vegetating, fuming, or being absorbed by the cupel.
cupel
- a refractory pot in which gold or silver is refined
- a small porous bowl made of bone ash in which gold and silver are recovered from a lead button during assaying
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- (tr) to refine (gold or silver) by means of cupellation
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Word Origin for cupel
C17: from French coupelle, diminutive of coupe cup
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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