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:
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 Agricola, Georgius
Melt this button again in the scorifier and a third time in the cupel.
From De Re Metallica, Translated from the First Latin Edition of 1556 by Agricola, Georgius
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
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 goldsmith not content with the touch-stone and the application of aquafortis, exposed the metal on the cupel with lead and fused it with antimony, but it sustained no loss.
From The Seven Follies of Science [2nd ed.] A popular account of the most famous scientific impossibilities and the attempts which have been made to solve them. by Phin, John
The resulting button of lead is cupelled for fine metal.
From A Text-book of Assaying: For the Use of Those Connected with Mines. by Beringer, Cornelius
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 Beringer, Cornelius
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
Three lots of 1 gram of gold cupelled each with 20 grams of lead repeatedly, so as to make 13 cupellations in all, lost in actual weight 35.72 milligrams.
From A Text-book of Assaying: For the Use of Those Connected with Mines. by Beringer, Cornelius
Effect of Varying Temperature.—0.4 gram of silver was cupelled with 20 grams of lead.
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
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
Refer to the table on page 105 to find what weight of lead is required for cupelling 1 gram of alloy.
From A Text-book of Assaying: For the Use of Those Connected with Mines. by Beringer, Cornelius
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 Beringer, Cornelius
The gold obtained on cupelling, less any gold and silver originally present in the liquor, would be the measure of the gold dissolving power.
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.
