cupel
/ˈkjuːpəl/ noun, verb
Forms cupels cupeling cupelling cupeled cupelled copel coppel
- noun A small circular receptacle used in assaying gold or silver with lead.
- verb To refine or assay using a cupel.
Synonyms
Etymology
Borrowed from French coupelle, from Medieval Latin cūpella, from Latin cūpa (“cask”) + -ella (“-elle: forming feminine diminutives”). Equivalent to cup + -el.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A shallow porus cup, used in refining precious metals, commonly made of bone ashes (phosphate of lime). [Written also coppel.] Cupel dust, powder used in purifying metals.
- verb To refine by means of a cupel.
Etymology [LL. cupella cup (cf. L. cupella, small cask, dim. of cupa) : cf. F. coupelle. See Cup, and cf. Coblet.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “cupel”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details