crucible
/ˈkɹuː.sɪ.bəl/ noun
Forms crucibles
- noun (chemistry) A cup-shaped piece of laboratory equipment used to contain chemical compounds when heating them to very high temperatures.
- noun A heat-resistant container in which metals are melted, usually at temperatures above 500°C, commonly made of graphite with clay as a binder.
- noun The bottom and hottest part of a blast furnace; the hearth.
- noun (figuratively) A very difficult and trying experience, that acts as a refining or hardening process.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Latin crucibulum (“night-lamp, metallurgic melting-pot”), apparently a derivative of crux (“cross”), perhaps by analogy to thūribulum (“censer”) and suffix -bulum, or from crucio (“to torment”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A vessel or melting pot, composed of some very refractory substance, as clay, graphite, platinum, and used for melting and calcining substances which require a strong degree of heat, as metals, ores, etc.
- noun A hollow place at the bottom of a furnace, to receive the melted metal.
Etymology [LL. crucubulum a hanging lamp, an earthen pot for melting metals (cf. OF. croisel, creuseul, sort of lamp, crucible, F. creuset crucible), prob. of German origin; cf. OHG. kr, LG. kr, hanging lamp, kroos, kruus, mug, jug, jar, D. kroes cup, crucible, Dan. kruus, Sw. krus, E. cruse. It was confused with derivatives of L. crux cross (cf. Crosslet), and crucibles were said to have been marked with a cross, to prevent the devil from marring the chemical operation. See Cruse, and cf. Cresset.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “crucible”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details