cupel

American  

[kyoo-puhl, kyoo-pel] / ˈkyu pəl, kyuˈpɛl /

noun

1. a small, cuplike, porous container, usually made of bone ash, used in assaying, as for separating gold and silver from lead.

2. a receptacle or furnace bottom in which silver is refined.

---

verb (used with object)

cupeled, cupeling, cupelled, cupelling

1. to heat or refine in a cupel.

cupel British  

/ kjʊˈpɛl, ˈkjuːpəl /

noun

1. a refractory pot in which gold or silver is refined

2. a small porous bowl made of bone ash in which gold and silver are recovered from a lead button during assaying

---

verb

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

Other Word Forms

• cupeler
  noun
• cupellation
  noun
• cupeller
  noun

Etymology

Origin of cupel

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

Example Sentences

Then the cupel is put into a very hot furnace so arranged that a current of air passes over it.

From Harper's Round Table, September 3, 1895 by Various

These metals are heated until the lead and the copper are consumed, and again, the same weight of each is melted in the same manner in another cupel.

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

Finally, rub the gold which has settled in the bottom of the cupel, after it has been taken out and cooled, on the touchstone, in order to find out what proportion of silver it contains.

From De Re Metallica, Translated from the First Latin Edition of 1556 by Agricola, Georgius

Lastly, place it in the cupel, which assay can be carried out in the space of half an hour.

From De Re Metallica, Translated from the First Latin Edition of 1556 by Agricola, Georgius