cupel
Americannoun
-
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)
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
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:
The lute, with lead added, should be heated in an earthen crucible, then re-melted in a cupel.
From De Re Metallica, Translated from the First Latin Edition of 1556 by Agricola, Georgius
If you wish to know what proportion of silver is in this copper button, melt it in a cupel after adding lead.
From De Re Metallica, Translated from the First Latin Edition of 1556 by Agricola, Georgius
The gold which remains is re-heated with stibium, and when this is exhaled the gold is heated for the third time in a cupel with a fourth part of lead, and then quenched.
From De Re Metallica, Translated from the First Latin Edition of 1556 by Agricola, Georgius
The button that settles is transferred to the cupel and re-melted.
From De Re Metallica, Translated from the First Latin Edition of 1556 by Agricola, Georgius
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 Agricola, Georgius
In the second, the lead button containing the gold or silver is cupelled and the resulting gold or silver button is weighed.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 7 "Arundel, Thomas" to "Athens" by Various
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 Burton, Richard Francis, Sir
These concentrates—mostly galena—were smelted in low furnaces and the lead was subsequently cupelled.
From De Re Metallica, Translated from the First Latin Edition of 1556 by Agricola, Georgius
The whole of the "metallics" scorified and cupelled gave 0.842 gram of silver.
From A Text-book of Assaying: For the Use of Those Connected with Mines. by Beringer, Cornelius
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 Beringer, Cornelius
This property is taken advantage of in the operation of calcining, scorifying, cupelling, &c.
From A Text-book of Assaying: For the Use of Those Connected with Mines. by Beringer, Cornelius
Determination of Silver in Copper.—The silver is best separated in the wet way before cupelling, but if the proportion is not too small, it can be found by cupellation.
From A Text-book of Assaying: For the Use of Those Connected with Mines. by Beringer, Cornelius
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 Beringer, Cornelius
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 Beringer, Cornelius
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 Beringer, Cornelius
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.
