alchemy
a form of chemistry and speculative philosophy practiced in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and concerned principally with discovering methods for transmuting baser metals into gold and with finding a universal solvent and an elixir of life.
any magical power or process of transmuting a common substance, usually of little value, into a substance of great value.
any seemingly magical process of transforming or combining elements into something new: Through some kind of alchemy he has reinvented himself as a writer.
Origin of alchemy
1word story For alchemy
An older, mostly speculative etymology derives chēmeía from an unrecorded Greek verb, chēmeúein “to work in an Egyptian way,” from Chēmía, an adaptation of an Egyptian name for Egypt (compare Coptic Chēme, Chēmi ). Chēmía literally means “Black Land,” so called in reference to the dark earth of the Nile Valley, from Egyptian km, kmt “black.”
A more recent etymology considers chymeía to be a native Greek word, ultimately a derivative of the noun chýma “something poured out or flowing out; a fluid, liquid; an ingot or bar,” from the verb chéein, cheîn, cheúein “to pour, pour out, gush.” The Greek word originally applied to pharmaceutical chemistry, which was mostly concerned with the mixing and infusion of plant juices; and, indeed, medieval alchemy experiments frequently involved the pouring of liquids.
Other words from alchemy
- al·chem·ic [al-kem-ik], /ælˈkɛm ɪk/, al·chem·i·cal, al·che·mis·tic [al-kuh-mis-tik], /ˌæl kəˈmɪs tɪk/, al·che·mis·ti·cal, adjective
- al·chem·i·cal·ly, adverb
Words Nearby alchemy
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use alchemy in a sentence
Their work revealed the strange alchemy at work inside the nucleus of an atom.
Pleasantly chewy, it melts easily on the tongue, a seemingly magical alchemy of sugar and protein.
Squishy, sweet homemade marshmallows will elevate your s’mores and hot chocolate | Daniela Galarza | January 12, 2021 | Washington PostThere are so many scenes — Majella sitting in her late grandmother’s farmhouse, having sex in the storeroom or recalling a batch of drowned kittens — that feel like literary alchemy.
Cheesemaking, mankind’s long-running alchemy of controlled rot, involves transforming perishable milk into something exponentially more complex, long-lasting, and valuable.
When specialty cheesemaking becomes a quarantine pastime | By Kat Craddock/Saveur | December 1, 2020 | Popular-ScienceThe result should be an earnest historical novel about the brutal struggle for fair wages, but through the alchemy of Walter’s voice, “The Cold Millions” is a work of irresistible characters, harrowing adventures and rip-roaring fun.
‘The Cold Millions,’ Jess Walter’s celebration of forgotten heroes, is one of the most captivating novels of the year | Ron Charles | October 29, 2020 | Washington Post
We remain constantly curious about what great designers will turn out from their capricious artistic alchemy.
There is a sort of alchemy of the masala in some ways, and that journey is parallel to the emotional journey he takes.
He is also a successful author whose 2005 debut The alchemy of Desire was published to wide acclaim.
Sarah Norris on the alchemy of being young and literary and finding your way in New York.
What will be the alchemy of Cowell, Randy Jackson, Kara DioGuardi, and Ellen DeGeneres this season?
But a doctor Faustus, in his cell littered with books and instruments of alchemy, would love always to have a cat for a companion.
Charles Baudelaire, His Life | Thophile GautierIt is for them to protect themselves from death,—the whole purpose of alchemy lies there, sire.
Catherine de' Medici | Honore de BalzacAmong his minor works occurs a treatise on alchemy, which seems to show that he was a devout believer in the science.
Witch, Warlock, and Magician | William Henry Davenport AdamsBut, like so many master-minds of the Middle Ages, he was unable wholly to resist the fascinations of alchemy and astrology.
Witch, Warlock, and Magician | William Henry Davenport AdamsThe earlier alchemists knew nothing of its theosophic doctrines; and the earlier Rosicrucians did not dabble in alchemy.
Witch, Warlock, and Magician | William Henry Davenport Adams
British Dictionary definitions for alchemy
/ (ˈælkəmɪ) /
the pseudoscientific predecessor of chemistry that sought a method of transmuting base metals into gold, an elixir to prolong life indefinitely, a panacea or universal remedy, and an alkahest or universal solvent
a power like that of alchemy: her beauty had a potent alchemy
Origin of alchemy
1Derived forms of alchemy
- alchemic (ælˈkɛmɪk), alchemical or alchemistic, adjective
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for alchemy
[ ăl′kə-mē ]
A medieval philosophy and early form of chemistry whose aims were the transmutation of base metals into gold, the discovery of a cure for all diseases, and the preparation of a potion that gives eternal youth. The imagined substance capable of turning other metals into gold was called the philosophers' stone.
a closer look
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Cultural definitions for alchemy
[ (al-kuh-mee) ]
Notes for alchemy
Notes for alchemy
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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