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philosopher's stone

noun

Etymology

A misconstruction of philosophers' stone, from Middle English philosophres ston, a calque of Latin lapis philosophōrum.

  1. derived from lapis philosophōrum
  2. derived from philosophres ston

Definitions

  1. A supposed substance able to turn base metals, such as lead or mercury, into gold or…

    A supposed substance able to turn base metals, such as lead or mercury, into gold or silver, also sometimes claimed to cure any illness (as panacea) or confer immortality (as elixir of life), among other functions.

    • Men talke much […] of the Philoſophers ſtone, that it turneth copper into gold; […]
    • […] I entered with the greatest diligence into the search of the philosopher's stone and the elixir of life.

  2. A piece of such a substance.

  3. Alternative letter-case form of philosopher's stone.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for philosopher's stone. 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