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Definition of Quintessence
1. Noun. The fifth and highest element after air and earth and fire and water; was believed to be the substance composing all heavenly bodies.
Language type: Archaicism, Archaism
Generic synonyms: Element
Derivative terms: Ethereal, Quintessential
2. Noun. The purest and most concentrated essence of something.
Derivative terms: Quintessential
3. Noun. The most typical example or representative of a type.
Definition of Quintessence
1. n. The fifth or last and highest essence or power in a natural body. See Ferment oils, under Ferment.
2. v. t. To distil or extract as a quintessence; to reduce to a quintessence.
Definition of Quintessence
1. [n -S]
Medical Definition of Quintessence
1. 1. The fifth or last and highest essence or power in a natural body. See Ferment oils, under Ferment. The ancient Greeks recognised four elements, fire, air, water, and earth. The Pythagoreans added a fifth and called it nether, the fifth essence, which they said flew upward at creation and out of it the stars were made. The alchemists sometimes considered alcohol, or the ferment oils, as the fifth essence. 2. Hence: An extract from anything, containing its rarest virtue, or most subtle and essential constituent in a small quantity; pure or concentrated essence. "Let there be light, said God; and forthwith light Ethereal, first of things, quintessence pure, Sprung from the deep." (Milton) Origin: F, fr. L. Quinta essentia fifth essence. See Quint, and Essence. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)
Lexicographical Neighbors of Quintessence
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