quintessence

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quin·tes·sence

(kwĭn-tĕs′əns)

1. The pure, highly concentrated essence of a thing.

2. The purest or most typical instance: the quintessence of evil.

3. In ancient and medieval philosophy, the fifth and highest essence after the four elements of earth, air, fire, and water, thought to be the substance of the heavenly bodies and latent in all things.

4. A form of dark energy due to a hypothetical scalar field that permeates all space, the energy density of which varies across space and time, in contrast to the cosmological constant.

[Middle English, from Old French quinte essence, fifth essence, from Medieval Latin quīnta essentia (translation of Greek pemptē ousiā) : Latin quīnta, feminine of quīntus, fifth; see penk^we in Indo-European roots + Latin essentia, essence; see essence.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

quintessence

(kwɪnˈtɛsəns)

1. the most typical representation of a quality, state, etc

2. (Chemistry) an extract of a substance containing its principle in its most concentrated form

3. (Philosophy) (in ancient and medieval philosophy) ether, the fifth and highest essence or element after earth, water, air, and fire, which was thought to be the constituent matter of the heavenly bodies and latent in all things

[C15: via French from Medieval Latin quinta essentia the fifth essence, translation of Greek pemptē ousia]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

quin•tes•sence

(kwɪnˈtɛs əns)

n.

1. the pure and concentrated essence of a substance.

2. the most perfect embodiment of something.

3. (in ancient and medieval philosophy) the fifth essence or element, ether, supposed to be with air, fire, earth, and water the constituent matter of the heavenly bodies.

[1400–50; Middle English < Medieval Latin quīnta essentia fifth essence]

quin`tes•sen′tial (-təˈsɛn ʃəl) adj.

quin`tes•sen′tial•ly, adv.

quintessence

Ancient and Medieval Philosophy. the fifth essence, of which the heavenly bodies were thought to be made, distinguished from the four elements of ure, air, water, and earth; hence, the most pure essence or most perfect embodiment of a thing or being. — quintessential, adj.

quintessence

noun

1. epitome, representation, embodiment, type, essence, archetype, exemplar, typical example, personification He was the quintessence of all Eva most deeply loathed.

2. essence, heart, spirit, soul, core, marrow, kernel, gist, distillation, lifeblood, pith the quintessence of civilized culture

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

quintessence

noun

1. The most central and material part:

core, essence, gist, heart, kernel, marrow, meat, nub, pith, root, soul, spirit, stuff, substance.

Law: gravamen.

2. A basic trait or set of traits that define and establish the character of something:

being, essence, essentiality, nature, substance, texture.

Translations

Quintessenz

quintessence

quintessenza

quintessence

[kwɪnˈtesns] N → quintaesencia f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

quintessence

n (Philos, fig) → Quintessenz f; (= embodiment) → Inbegriff m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

quintessence

[kwɪnˈtɛsns] n (frm) → quintessenza

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

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References in classic literature ?

This great man, as is well known to all lovers of polite eating, begins at first by setting plain things before his hungry guests, rising afterwards by degrees as their stomachs may be supposed to decrease, to the very quintessence of sauce and spices.

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No French writer, however, has moved me so much as the Spanish, for the French are wanting in the humor which endears these, and is the quintessence of their charm.

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The quintessence of the torture was, moreover, my own secret.

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This object could not be anything else but the second bulb, that is to say, the quintessence of all the hopes of the prisoner.

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"But to be among them, controlling them, directing them, two hundred of them, and to escape being eaten by them--that, at least, if it isn't romantic, is certainly the quintessence of adventure.

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The huge and unmeaning glass chandeliers, prism-cut, gas-lighted, and without shade, which dangle in our most fashionable drawing-rooms, may be cited as the quintessence of all that is false in taste or preposterous in folly.

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The quintessence of the flavor of six birds, concentrated in one olive.

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I saw when at his Word the formless Mass, This worlds material mould, came to a heap: Confusion heard his voice, and wilde uproar Stood rul'd, stood vast infinitude confin'd; Till at his second bidding darkness fled, Light shon, and order from disorder sprung: Swift to thir several Quarters hasted then The cumbrous Elements, Earth, Flood, Aire, Fire, And this Ethereal quintessence of Heav'n Flew upward, spirited with various forms, That rowld orbicular, and turnd to Starrs Numberless, as thou seest, and how they move; Each had his place appointed, each his course, The rest in circuit walles this Universe.

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They then posted themselves on the level ground at the outlet of the Sierra, and as soon as Don Quixote and his companions emerged from it the curate began to examine him very deliberately, as though he were striving to recognise him, and after having stared at him for some time he hastened towards him with open arms exclaiming, "A happy meeting with the mirror of chivalry, my worthy compatriot Don Quixote of La Mancha, the flower and cream of high breeding, the protection and relief of the distressed, the quintessence of knights-errant!" And so saying he clasped in his arms the knee of Don Quixote's left leg.

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And when he left the library, he carried under his arm four volumes: Madam Blavatsky's "Secret Doctrine," "Progress and Poverty," "The Quintessence of Socialism," and, "Warfare of Religion and Science." Unfortunately, he began on the "Secret Doctrine." Every line bristled with many- syllabled words he did not understand.

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Perhaps nothing else than that special intensity of existence which is the quintessence of youthful aspirations.

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He spoke to her in a low voice, almost drawling, but in it was the quintessence of all loathing, as he called her a name unspeakable and vile.

Noun	1.	quintessence - the fifth and highest element after air and earth and fire and water; was believed to be the substance composing all heavenly bodies ether archaicism, archaism - the use of an archaic expression element - one of four substances thought in ancient and medieval cosmology to constitute the physical universe; "the alchemists believed that there were four elements"
	2.	quintessence - the purest and most concentrated essence of something essence, heart and soul, inwardness, nitty-gritty, pith, substance, gist, kernel, nub, meat, core, sum, marrow, heart, center, centre - the choicest or most essential or most vital part of some idea or experience; "the gist of the prosecutor's argument"; "the heart and soul of the Republican Party"; "the nub of the story"
	3.	quintessence - the most typical example or representative of a type example, instance, illustration, representative - an item of information that is typical of a class or group; "this patient provides a typical example of the syndrome"; "there is an example on page 10"