cupel

[ kyoo-puh l, kyoo-pel ]

/ ˈkyu pəl, kyuˈpɛl /

noun

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.

verb (used with object), cu·peled, cu·pel·ing or (especially British) cu·pelled, cu·pel·ling.

to heat or refine in a cupel.

Nearby words

Origin of cupel

1595–1605; < Medieval Latin cūpella, equivalent to Latin cūp(a) tub + -ella diminutive suffix

Related formscu·pel·er

[kyoo-puh-ler] /ˈkyu pə lər/, cu·pel·ler

[kyoo-pel-er] /kyuˈpɛl ər/, nouncu·pel·la·tion, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for cupel

Then mix the dried precipitate with three times its weight of lead; fuse, scorify and cupel.
The A B C of Mining|Charles A. Bramble
This is to smelt the cupel as described further on (p. 114), and to again cupel the resulting button of lead.
A Textbook of Assaying: For the Use of Those Connected with Mines.|Cornelius Beringer and John Jacob Beringer
So that the event is here nearly the same as when Gold or Silver is refined on the cupel.
Elements of the Theory and Practice of Chymistry, 5th ed.|Pierre Joseph Macquer
If you wish to know what proportion of silver is in this copper button, melt it in a cupel after adding lead.
De Re Metallica|Georgius Agricola

Cupel the lead, and the resulting button will be free from all metals, except perhaps gold.
A Textbook of Assaying: For the Use of Those Connected with Mines.|Cornelius Beringer and John Jacob Beringer

British Dictionary definitions for cupel

cupel

/ (ˈkjuːpəl, kjʊˈpɛl) /

noun

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

verb -pels, -pelling or -pelled or US -pels, -peling or -peled

(tr) to refine (gold or silver) by means of cupellation

Derived Formscupeller, noun

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 Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012