Definition of "quintessence"

quintessence

/kwɪn.ˈtɛs.əns/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural quintessences
1. A thing that is the most perfect example of its type; the most perfect embodiment of something; epitome, prototype.
  Quotations
  As families and kindreds sometimes do; producing, after long ages of unnoted notability, some living quintescence of all the qualities they had, to flame forth as a man world-noted […]
  1837, Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution: A History […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, (please specify the book or page number)
2. A pure substance.
3. The essence of a thing in its purest and most concentrated form.
  Quotations
  For vvhat is ſilke but eu'n a Quinteſſence, / Made vvithout hands beyond al humane ſenſe? / A quinteſſence? nay vvel it may be call'd, / A deathleſſe tincture, ſent vs from the skies, / VVhoſe colour ſtands, vvhose gloſſe is ne're appalld, […]
  1599, T[homas] M[offett], The Silkewormes, and Their Flies: […], London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Nicholas Ling, […], pages 67–68
  Let ther be Light, ſaid God, and forthwith Light, / Ethereal, firſt of things, quinteſſence pure, / Sprung from the Deep, […]
  1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, lines 243–245
4. (alchemy) The fifth alchemical element, or essence, after earth, air, fire, and water that fills the universe beyond the terrestrial sphere.
5. (physics) A hypothetical form of dark energy postulated to explain observations of an accelerating universe.
verb
third-person singular simple present quintessences, present participle quintessencing, simple past and past participle quintessenced
1. (transitive) To reduce to its purest and most concentrated essence.

Definition of "quintessence"

quintessence

noun

Quotations

Quotations

verb