▪ I. elixir, n.
(ɪˈlɪksə(r))
Forms: 4 elixir, 5–7 elixar, -er, (6 alixer).
[a. med.L. elixir (cf. Fr. élixir, It. elissire, Sp. el{iacu}xir, Pg. elexir), ad. Arab. al-iksīr (= sense 1), prob. ad. late Gr. ξήριον ‘desiccative powder for wounds’.]
1. Alchemy. A preparation by the use of which it was sought to change metals into gold. Sometimes identified with ‘the philosopher's stone’; but perh. of wider meaning, including powders, liquids, or vapours used for the same purpose. Also elixir-stone.
| c 1386 Chaucer Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 310 The philosophre stoon, Elixir clept, we sechen fast echoon. 1471 Ripley Comp. Alch. in Ashm. 188 Thow must devyde thy Elixer whyte into partyes two. 1584 R. Scot Discov. Witchcr. xiv. ii. 295 The philosophers stone, called Alixer. 1614 Rowlands Fooles Bolt 9 Fryer-Bacon..could teach Kelley the Elixar stone. 1667 Milton P.L. iii. 607 What wonder then if fields and regions here Breathe forth elixir pure, and Rivers run Potable Gold. 1676 Hale Contempl. i. 297 A Good Man is like the Elixir, it turns Iron into Gold. 1855 Milman Lat. Chr. (1864) IX. xiv. iii. 159 Roger Bacon sought..a transmuting Elixir with unlimited powers. |
b. transf. and fig.
| 1635 Quarles Embl. iv. iv. (1718) 202 True fear's the Elixir, which in days of old Turn'd leaden crosses into crowns of gold. 1663 Cowley Verses & Ess. (1669) 130 She taught him Loves Elixar, by which Art, His Godhead into Gold he did convert. 1878 Browning La Saisiaz 51, I shall bless the kindly wrench that..left all grace Ashes in death's stern alembic, loosed elixir in its place. |
2. A supposed drug or essence with the property of indefinitely prolonging life; imagined by the alchemists to be either identical with, or closely related to, the ‘elixir’ of sense 1. More fully, elixir of life (tr. med.L. elixir vitæ).
| [1266 Roger Bacon Opus Minus (Rolls Ser.) 314 Medicinam..quam philosophi vocant Elixir..Si libra medicinæ projiciatur super mille plumbi fiet..aurum..Et hoc est quod corpora infirma reducet ad sanitatem..et vitam..ultra contenarios annorum prolongabit.] 1605 Timme Quersit. i. xiii. [Mercury, sulphur, and salt]..brought into one bodie (which the Arabians call elixir)..wil be..a medicine, etc. 1799 Godwin St. Leon IV. 324 The..secrets of alchemy and the elixir vitæ. 1815 Moore Lalla R. (1824) 136, I know too where the Genii hid The jewell'd cup of their king Jamshid With Life's elixir sparkling high. 1826 Miss Mitford Village Ser. ii. (1863) 318 Honey..was, in her mind..the true elixir vitæ. 1831 Brewster Nat. Magic xii. (1833) 299 Though the elixir of life has never been distilled. 1873 Dixon Two Queens I. ii. i. 75 Carillo had been glad to toy with magic, and pursue the elixir of life. |
b. A sovereign remedy for disease. Hence adopted as a name for quack medicines, as Daffy's elixir, etc.
| 1631 Massinger Emp. of East iv. iv, A little cyath or quantity of my potable elixir. 1633 P. Fletcher Purple Isl. xii. li, The best Elixar for souls drooping pain. 1681 Ashmole Diary 11 Apr., I took early in the morning a good dose of elixer. 1681 Lond. Gaz. No. 1679/4 Anthony Daffy, Author of the Famous Elixir Salutis. 1713 Guardian No. 11 (R.) The grand elixir, to support the spirits of human nature. 1724 Ramsay Tea-T. Misc. (1733) I. 79 Take your glass to clear your een, 'Tis the elixir heals the spleen. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., An universal medicine..called by way of excellence, the grand elixir. 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1852) II. 234 A sip of Daffy's elixir..has proved a powerful means of grace. 1830 Scott Demonol. v. 144 Before he established the reputation of his..elixir, or pill. |
† 3. A strong extract or tincture. Obs. exc. Hist.
| 1597 Bp. Hall Sat. ii. iv. 43 And bring quintessence of elixir pale Out of sublimed spirits minerall. 1673 Grew Anat. Roots ii. §60 The remainder, is..an Oleous Elixyr, or extract, in the form of a Milk. 1677 W. Harris tr. Lemery's Chym. (ed. 3) 630 The name Elixir has been given to many Infusions or Tinctures of spirituous bodies prepared in spirituous Menstruums. 1820 Scott Abbot xxvii, That elixir being in truth a curious distillation of rectified acetum. |
b. fig. The quintessence or soul of a thing; its kernel or secret principle.
| 1638 Chillingw. Relig. Prot. i. Pref. §1 The Spirit and Elixir of all that can be said in defence of your Church and Doctrine. 1641 Milton Ch. Govt. ii. (1851) 181 A distill'd quintessence, a pure elixar of mischief, pestilent alike to all. 1675 Traherne Chr. Ethics xxiv. 366 The chief elixir of its [love's] nature is founded in the excellency of a spirit that suffers for another's sake. 1860 Emerson Cond. Life, Fate Wks. (Bohn) II. 311 Sometimes the rank unmitigated elixir, the family vice, is drawn off in a separate individual. |
4. Pharmacy. (See quot.) elixir of vitriol: aromatic sulphuric acid. paregoric elixir: see paregoric.
| 1736 Bailey s.v., An Elixir is a compound magistery, i.e. a composition of various bodies chang'd after the same manner as a single body. 1783 F. Michaelis in Med. Commun. I. 350 He ordered her..a gargle of decoction of bark, with elixir of vitriol. 1871 G. H. Napheys Prev. & Cure Dis. i. viii. 203 Elixir of calisaya bark. 1884 Syd. Soc. Lex., Elixir, a preparation similar to a compound tincture. Also applied in a compound of many drugs with syrup and spirit. |
5. Bot. elixir of love: an orchid (Grammatophyllum speciosum), a native of Java. Also a decoction made from the seeds of this plant.
6. Comb., as elixir-like adj.
| a 1631 Drayton Poems I. (1753) 201 O tears! Elixir-like turn all to tears you touch. a 1631 Donne Poems (1650) 165 Soft dispositions which ductill be, Elixar-like, shee makes not cleane, but new. |
▪ II. † eˈlixir, v. Obs. rare.
[f. prec. n.]
trans. To distil as an elixir; to work upon as by an elixir. Also absol. Hence eˈlixired ppl. a., concentrated, refined. Also fig.
| a 1658 Lovelace To J. Hall Wks. (1864) 252 Thou hast so spirited, elixir'd, we Conceive there is a noble alchymie. ― Toad & Spider 200 Then in his self the lymbeck turns, And his elixir'd poyson urns. 1660 Ognell Elegy in Lovelace's Wks. (1864) 289 This elixir'd medecine, For greatest grief a soveraign anodyne. 1687 Elegy on Cleveland in Wks. 277 Rich in Elixar'd Measures, and in all That could breath Sense in Airs Emphatical. |