alchemy

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: al=che=my

CIDE DICTIONARY

alchemy, n. [OF. alkemie, arquemie, F. alchimie, Ar. al-kīmīa, fr. late Gr. , for , a mingling, infusion, juice, liquid, especially as extracted from plants, fr. to pour; for chemistry was originally the art of extracting the juices from plants for medicinal purposes. Cf. Sp. alquimia, It. alchimia. Gr. is prob. akin to L. fundere to pour, Goth. guitan, AS. geótan, to pour, and so to E. fuse. See Fuse, and cf. Chemistry.].

•  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.  [1913 Webster]
•  A mixed metal composed mainly of brass, formerly used for various utensils; hence, a trumpet.  [1913 Webster]

  "Put to their mouths the sounding alchemy."  [1913 Webster]
•  Miraculous power of transmuting something common into something precious.  [1913 Webster]

  "Kissing with golden face the meadows green,
  Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

alchemy, n. (pl. -ies)
1 the medieval forerunner of chemistry, esp. seeking to turn base metals into gold or silver.
2 a miraculous transformation or the means of achieving this.

Derivative

alchemic adj. alchemical adj. alchemist n. alchemize v.tr. (also -ise).

Etymology

ME f. OF alkemie, alkamie f. med.L alchimia, -emia, f. Arab. alkimiya' f. al the + kimiya' f. Gk khemia, -meia art of transmuting metals

THESAURUS

alchemy

about-face, assimilation, assumption, becoming, bewitchery, change, change-over, charm, conversion, divination, enchantment, fetishism, flip-flop, glamour, gramarye, growth, hoodoo, juju, jujuism, lapse, magic, natural magic, naturalization, necromancy, obeah, passage, progress, re-formation, reconversion, reduction, resolution, reversal, rune, shamanism, shift, sorcery, sortilege, spell, spellbinding, spellcasting, switch, switch-over, sympathetic magic, thaumaturgia, thaumaturgics, thaumaturgism, thaumaturgy, theurgy, transformation, transit, transition, turning into, vampirism, volte-face, voodoo, voodooism, wanga, white magic, witchcraft, witchery, witchwork, wizardry

ROGET THESAURUS

alchemy

Conversion

N conversion, reduction, transmutation, resolution, assimilation, evolution, sea change, change of state, assumption, naturalization, transportation, development, developing, conversion of currency, exchange of currency, exchange rate, bureau de change, chemistry, alchemy, progress, growth, lapse, flux, passage, transit, transition, transmigration, shifting, phase, conjugation, convertibility, crucible, alembic, caldron, retort, convert, pervert, renegade, apostate, converted into, convertible, resolvable into, transitional, naturalized, gradually, &c (slowly) 275 in transitu.