crucible

noun
/ˈkɹuː.sɪ.bəl/

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”).

  1. derived from crucibulum — “night-lamp, metallurgic melting-pot

Definitions

  1. A cup-shaped piece of laboratory equipment used to contain chemical compounds when…

    A cup-shaped piece of laboratory equipment used to contain chemical compounds when heating them to very high temperatures.

  2. A heat-resistant container in which metals are melted, usually at temperatures above…

    A heat-resistant container in which metals are melted, usually at temperatures above 500°C, commonly made of graphite with clay as a binder.

  3. The bottom and hottest part of a blast furnace

    The bottom and hottest part of a blast furnace; the hearth.

  4. + 1 more definition
    1. A very difficult and trying experience, that acts as a refining or hardening process.

      • But, in considering an author and his works as one, a sufficient distinction is not drawn between the ideal and the real: the last is only given by being past through the crucible of the first.
      • Some of our ancestors faced trials that we will never know—the snows of Valley Forge; the crucible of a bitter, bloody civil war; and the incredible hardships endured in taming a savage wilderness.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for crucible. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA