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 has the remarkable power of absorbing the oxides of metal, and so in an hour or so there is nothing left in it save a little bead of silver and gold.
From Harper's Round Table, September 3, 1895 by Various
The bone ash is then pressed into shape with the piston, and the cupel finished with the help of three or four smart blows from a mallet.
From A Text-book of Assaying: For the Use of Those Connected with Mines. by Beringer, Cornelius
The button is taken out, purged of slag, and placed in a cupel, where the gold is separated from the lead.
From De Re Metallica, Translated from the First Latin Edition of 1556 by Agricola, Georgius
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
Then take the crucible out of the hoop, shake off the button when it has cooled, and when it has been cleansed, melt first in the scorifier and afterward in the cupel.
From De Re Metallica, Translated from the First Latin Edition of 1556 by Agricola, Georgius
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
The lead button is then cupelled on a very fine cupel, as already described.
From A Text-book of Assaying: For the Use of Those Connected with Mines. by Beringer, Cornelius
In his directions the silver-lead alloy was cupelled and the copper ultimately refined, obviously by oxidation and poling, although he omits the pole.
From De Re Metallica, Translated from the First Latin Edition of 1556 by Agricola, Georgius
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
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
Karsten got by actual experiment on cupelling copper and lead in equal proportions, a loss of 21.25 per cent.
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
The silver is incorporated with the gold, and at the same time the copper is eliminated, by cupelling with sheet lead.
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
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.
