ALCHEMY • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Alchemy

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/ˈælkəmi/ Listen

noun

Alchemy n.

An imaginary art which aimed to transmute the baser metals into gold, to find the panacea, or universal remedy for diseases, etc. It led the way to modern chemistry.

A mixed metal composed mainly of brass, formerly used for various utensils; hence, a trumpet. (Obs.) "Put to their mouths the sounding alchemy."

Miraculous power of transmuting something common into something precious. "Kissing with golden face the meadows green, Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy."

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Etymology of 'Alchemy'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Alchemy" Quotes from Famous Books

... to be a marvellous alchemy in true piety. Mind and sense subject to its process become refined. Where refinement is not the result, we may believe that there is a false note in the devotion, that there is self-seeking in the effort toward ...

— The Zeit-Geist • Lily Dougall

... Rosicrucian philosophy was a strange offshoot from Alchemy, and made up in equal proportions of Pagan Platonism, Christian Quietism, and Jewish Mysticism. See Bulwer's 'Zanoni.' Pope has blended some of its elements with old legendary stories ...

— The Poetical Works Of Alexander Pope, Vol. 1 • Alexander Pope et al

... they look up and smile. To them sorrow is but a preparation for a diviner joy. All things indeed work together for their good; since, whether fair fortune comes, or ill, they possess the spiritual alchemy that transmutes it ...

— Cudjo's Cave • J. T. Trowbridge

... ALCHEMY, the early analysis of substances which has in modern times developed into chemistry, and which aimed chiefly at the discovery of the philosopher's stone, of a universal solvent, and of the elixir of life; it has been defined to be "an art without art, which has its beginning ...

— The Nuttall Encyclopaedia - Being a Concise and Comprehensive Dictionary of General Knowledge • Edited by Rev. James Wood

... upon a black horse! These are thy gods, O London! Ain't you mightily moped on the banks of the Cam! Had not you better come and set up here? You can't think what a difference. All the streets and pavements are pure gold, I warrant you. At least I know an alchemy that turns her mud into that metal,—a mind that loves to be at home ...

— The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb, Vol. 5 • Edited by E. V. Lucas

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