▪ I. essence, n.
(ˈɛsəns)
Also 4 in med.Lat. form essencia, 6 assence.
[a. Fr. essence, ad. L. essentia, f. *essent-em, fictitious pr. pple. of esse to be, in imitation of Gr. οὐσία being, f. ὀντ-, stem of pr. pple. of εἶναι to be. Cf. Pr. essentia, Sp. esencia, It. essenza.]
† 1. a. Being, existence, viewed as a fact or as a property possessed by something. Obs.
| 1576 Fleming Panop. Ep. 284 Nature hath not given unto men their essence and being, to be..in idlenesse..but..still to bee doinge. 1579 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 166 How canst thou abide his presence, that beleevedst not his essence? 1605 Sylvester Du Bartas i. i. Argt. (1605–7) I. 1 World not eternall.. But of meere Nothing God it Essence gaue. 1622 Fletcher Sp. Curate iv. iv, I would resign my Essence, that he were As happy as my Love cou'd fashion him. a 1688 Cudworth Immut. Mor. (1731) 2 None of these things have in Nature any Essence of their own. |
¶ b. The kind of being distinctive of animals; animal life. Obs. rare—1.
| 1633 Earl of Manchester Al Mondo (1636) 35 Of creatures, the lowest ranke have no life, the next no essence, the third no reason; none but man hath grace. |
2. a. concr. Something that is; an existence, entity. Now restricted to spiritual or immaterial entities.
| 1587 Golding De Mornay iv. 43 Man is an essence subiect to time, place and accidents. 1602 Marston Antonio's Rev. iv. i, There is no essence mortal, That I can envie, but a plumpe cheekt foole. 1604 Shakes. Oth. iv. i. 16 Her honor is an Essence that's not seene. 1643 Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. i. §31 Those noble essences in heaven beare a friendly regard unto their fellow nature on earth. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 138 All this mighty Host In horrible destruction laid thus low, As far as Gods and Heav'nly Essences Can Perish. 1742 Young Nt. Th. ix. 2303 Through radiant ranks of essences unknown. 1796 Burke Regic. Peace i. Wks. VIII. 79 Commonwealths are not physical but moral essences. 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. I. 72 Fanciful speculations on spiritual essences. 1833 Tennyson Poems 77 All nature widens upward: evermore The simpler essence lower lies. 1836 Emerson Nature, Spirit Wks. (Bohn) II. 166 Of that ineffable essence which we call Spirit, he that thinks most will say least. 1847 J. Wilson Chr. North (1857) I. 257 The immortal essence enshrined within. |
† b. ‘Species of existent being’ (J.); an element. Chiefly in phrase, fifth essence, transl. of L. quinta essentia: see quintessence.
The ‘fifth essence’ was a supposed substance distinct from the recognized four elements. What this fifth essence was, and where existing, was much disputed. Originally, it seems to have been the material of the starry heaven, as conceived by those who hesitated to identify it with ‘fire’. Among the alchemists, it was usually supposed to be latent in all bodies, and to be capable of being extracted from them by distillation or some more recondite process; many thought that alcohol was one of its forms. Others regarded the discovery of the ‘fifth essence’ as one of the unrealized aims of science, and attributed to the hypothetical substance all sorts of miracle-working properties. Hence fifth essence or quintessence was used loosely in the various senses ‘highly refined extract or essence’ and ‘universal remedy’.
| 1582 J. Hester tr. Phioravanti's Secretes iii. liv, The Quintaessence..is an essence aboue the fower elements. a 1626 Bacon (J.), Here be four of you, as differing as the four elements..as for Eupolis..he may be the fifth essence. 1662 R. Mathew Unl. Alch. 20 An Universal Medicine, or fifth Essence. 1817 Byron Manfred i. i, Ye, who do compass earth about, and dwell In subtler essence. 1837 Whewell Hist. Induct. Sc. (1857) I. 41 There is some essence of body, different from those of the four elements. |
c. ‘Constituent substance’ (J.).
| 1398 Trevisa Barth De P.R. ii. ii. (1495) 28 The essencia of angels is symple and vnmateryal, pure, dystyngt and discrete. 1599 Davies Nosce Teipsum 10 The Elements conspire, And to her [soul's] Essence each doth give a part. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 425 Spirits..Can either Sex assume, or both; so soft And uncompounded is their Essence pure. 1801 Southey Thalaba iii. i, Those Beings Through whose pure essence as through empty air The unaided eye would pass. |
† 3. a. Specific being, manner of existing, ‘what a thing is’; nature, character. Obs.
| c 1532 G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 920 Thre thynges dothe cause the essence of whythnesse. 1588 Greene Pandosto (1843) 20 The god Apollo, who by his devine essence knew al secrets. 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. ii. ii. 120 Man..Most ignorant of what he's most assured, His glassy essence..Plays such fantastic tricks, etc. 1620 Melton Astrolog. 37 By the fourth House, you will iudge of the essence of the Child that is borne, how long it shall liue, and how well. 1626 Bacon Sylva (1631) §287 Eccho..is a great Argument of the Spirituall Essence of Sounds. 1664 Power Exp. Philos. iii. 184 The numerous Rabble that seem to have the Signatures of Man in their faces..have nothing of the nobler part that should denominate their Essences. |
† b. by essence in Path.: idiopathically: cf. essential 1 d. Opposed to by sympathy. Obs.
| 1656 Ridgley Pract. Physick 74 The part that principally offends must be cured. If it be by essence, opening a Vein is good. Ibid. 185 It [head-ach] is either by essence or by sympathy with the stomach, etc. |
4. a. ‘Substance’ in the metaphysical sense; the reality underlying phenomena; absolute being.
| 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. i. x. 38 The substraction of that essence, which substantially supporteth them. 1871 R. H. Hutton Ess. II. 188 But belief in a universal essence gave no solidity to the order of the world. |
b. Theol. A synonym of ‘substance’, as denoting that in respect of which the three persons in the Trinity are one.
The L. essentia literally renders Gr. οὐσία, the technical word in this sense. The alternative rendering, substantia, substance, corresponds literally to Gr. ὑπόστασις, which however in theological use meant not ‘substance’ but ‘person’.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. i. (1495) 6 Thise thre persones be not thre goddes, but one very god, one essence or one beyng. 1481 Caxton Myrr. iii. xii. 160 [Plato and Aristotle] fonde by their wysedom and connyng thre persones in one essence. 1538 Bale Thre Lawes 37 All-one with the sonne, and holy ghost in essence. 1552 Lyndesay Monarche iv. 6146 Augustyne sayis, he had leuer tak on hand To be in Hell, he seyng the assence Off God, nor be in Heuin, but his presence. |
5. That by which anything subsists; foundation of being.
| c 1585 Answ. to Cartwright 35 Christ being the essence and life of the Church. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. iii. i. 182 Shee [Siluia] is my essence, and I leaue to be; If I be not by her faire influence Foster'd. 1793 Holcroft Lavater's Physiogn. iii. 25 There is a tranquil strength the essence of which is immobility. 1841 Myers Cath. Th. iii. §6. 20 Of Him who was The Truth—its author and its essence. 1884 H. Jennings Phallicism iv. 41 The Hindoos holding Fire to be the essence of all active power in nature. |
† 6. Essentiality, importance. Cf. OF. de grant essence (Godef.).
| 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. xv. §1 A matter of great use and Essence in studying. 1652 Shirley Brothers iv. 46 Ther's something Of Essence to my life, exacts my care. |
7. That which constitutes the being of a thing; that ‘by which it is what it is’. In two different applications (distinguished by Locke as nominal essence and real essence respectively): a. of a conceptual entity: The totality of the properties, constituent elements, etc., without which it would cease to be the same thing; the indispensable and necessary attributes of a thing as opposed to those which it may have or not. Also, in narrower sense, those among the indispensable attributes which involve all the rest by logical consequence, and are sufficient for a valid definition; the ‘connotation of the class-name’.
| a 1600 Hooker (J.), Those things, which supernaturally appertain to the very essence of Christianity. 1610 Bp. Hall Apol. Brownists 20 [It] will proue but an appendance of an externall forme, no part of the essence of a true Church. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. ii. xxxii, The Essence of a Triangle, lies in a very little compass..three Lines meeting at three Angles, make up that Essence. 1714 J. Fortescue-Aland Pref. to Fortescue's Abs. & Lim. Mon. 6 We may exactly know the several Ideas that go to make each Law-term, and so their real Nature and Essence may be known. 1841 Myers Cath. Th. iii. §39. 140 To confound the transitory and special form with the characteristic and permanent essence. 1870 Bowen Logic iv. 74 Logic considers the Essence of a Concept to be the aggregate of its Marks. |
b. of a real entity: Objective character, intrinsic nature as a ‘thing-in-itself’; ‘that internal constitution, on which all the sensible properties depend’.
| 1667 H. More Div. Dial. i. xxiv. 93 I might believe its [a spirit's] Existence, without meddling at all with its Essence. 1725 Watts Logic i. vi. §2 In defining the Name there is no Necessity that we should be acquainted with the intimate Essence or Nature of the Thing. 1739 Hume Hum. Nat. I. Introd., The essence of the mind being equally unknown to us with that of external bodies. 1777 Priestley Matt. & Spir. (1782) I. xii. 139 In fact, we have no proper idea of any essence whatever. 1808 J. Webster Nat. Phil. 16 We clearly view the effects of attraction..but human ingenuity has not been able to fathom its principle or essence. 1856 Ferrier Inst. Metaph. ix. xi. 251 With the old philosophers the essence of things was precisely that part of them of which a clear conception could be formed. |
8. loosely. The most important indispensable quality or constituent element of anything; the specific difference. of the essence (of): indispensable (to). (Cf. F. de l'essence de.)
| 1656 tr. Hobbes' Elem. Philos. (1839) 117 The accident which denominates its subject, is commonly called the essence thereof. 1754 Chatham Lett. Nephew iv. 27 The essence of religion is, a heart void of offence towards God and man. 1841–4 Emerson Ess., Friendship Wks. (Bohn) I. 92 The essence of friendship is entireness. 1843 Mill Logic I. vii. §5. i. 172 It is said that genus and species must be of the essence of the thing. 1873 Act 36 & 37 Vict. c. 66 §25 (7) Stipulations..as to time or otherwise, which would not before the passing of this Act have been deemed to be or to have become of the essence of such contracts in a Court of Equity. 1876 Freeman Norm. Conq. V. xxiv. 452 It is the essence of the modern Jury that they should..give their verdict according to the evidence. 1931 Morn. Post 21 Aug. 8/2 While time is of the essence of the contract to retrieve the situation, discussion still proceeds. 1936 Wodehouse Laughing Gas iii. 37 It seemed to me that pomposity was of the essence... You can't tick a bloke off properly unless you come over a bit mid-Victorian. 1958 Listener 30 Oct. 677/2 The only way for the workers to defend themselves in such a case is by immediate action. Time is of the essence. |
9. a. An extract obtained by distillation or otherwise from a plant, or from a medicinal, odoriferous or alimentary substance, and containing its characteristic properties in a concentrated form. In pharmacy chiefly applied to alcoholic solutions containing the volatile elements or ‘essential oil’ to which the perfume, flavour, or therapeutic virtues of the substance are due. essence of Venus = ens Veneris: see ens 2 b.
[This sense is common to all the Romanic langs., its general currency being prob. due to its use by Paracelsus. It is in part a development of 8, perh. suggested by the older fifth essence (see 2 b), which had assumed a nearly similar meaning.]
| 1660 Boyle New Exp. Phys. Mech. xxv. 195 Very small Viols, such as Chymical Essences..are wont to be kept in. 1662 R. Mathew Unl. Alch. 177 The true preparation of the Essence of Venus. 1744 Thomson Spring 509 Bees..with inserted tube Suck its pure essence. 1838 T. Thomson Chem. Org. Bodies 459 It comes to us from the South of Europe under the name of essence of lemons. 1842 Barham Ingol. Leg., Babes in the Wood iv, Mind Johnny's chil⁓blains are rubb'd Well with Whitehead's best essence of mustard. |
b. fig.
| 1798 Ferriar Illustr. Sterne, Eng. Historians 252 The essence of history..is always apt to evaporate in the moment of enjoyment. 1816 Byron Ch. Har. iii. lxxviii, His love was passion's essence. 1836 Marryat Midsh. Easy xxii, It was a perfect love-letter, that is to say, it was the essence of nonsense. 1841 Myers Cath. Th. iii. §14. 53 Truth cannot be given us in essence. |
c. Name of a variety of Tokay wine.
| 1773 [see Tokay1]. 1862 C. Tovey Wine & Wine Countries v. 208 Until recently, the only wine known in England as the produce of Hungary, was the Imperial Tokay, or Tokay essence. 1872 Thudichum & Dupré Treat. Orig. Wine xix. 629 Tokay.—1. Essence: very sweet. 1911 Encycl. Brit. XXVIII. 728/1 The most precious variety of Tokay is the so-called essence. |
10. spec. A fragrant essence; a perfume, scent. Somewhat arch.
| 1627–77 Feltham Resolves ii. lxiii. 293 It sinks as essence does in cotton till all becomes a Fragrancy. 1712–4 Pope Rape Lock ii. 94 To save the powder from too rude a gale, Nor let th' imprison'd essences exhale. 1841 James Brigand xv, A toilet table covered with all the most costly essences and perfumes which could be procured from the four quarters of the globe. 1855 Tennyson Maud i. xiii, His essences turn'd the live air sick. |
| fig. 1768 Sterne Sent. Journ., Riddle Explained, Delicious essence! how refreshing art thou [flattery] to nature! |
11. attrib. and Comb. (chiefly sense 10). essence-peddler U.S., (a) a pedlar of medicines; (b) transf., a skunk.
| 1659 Boyle Exper. Spring of Air xxv. Wks. 1772 I. 59 We prosecuted the experiment so long, without seeing any effect wrought upon the essence-bottles, that, etc. Ibid. Essence-glass. 1777 Sheridan Trip Scarb. iii. i, Thou essence-bottle, thou musk-cat! 1838 Hawthorne Note-Bks. (1868) I. 119 He was not exclusively an essence-peddler. 1849 J. R. Lowell Let. 9 Mar. (1894) I. 170 A skunk was shot in our back-kitchen this morning. There were two of these ‘essence-peddlers’, as the Yankees call them, gambolling there the night before. 1860 Knickerbocker Apr. 361 It is a vulgar mistake that the porcupine has the faculty of darting his quills to a distance, as the essence-peddler has of scattering his aromatic wares. 1862 Lowell Biglow P. 2nd Ser. II. 77 With means about 'em (Like essence-peddlers) thet'll make folks long to be without 'em. 1886 Pall Mall G. 27 Aug. 3/2 The essence-steeped fur of a glove. 1890 E. Custer Following Guidon xiv. 200 As soon as that essence-peddler saw fit to move on, the major-general commanding would issue his order to march. 1944 E. A. Holton Yankees were like This 179 Who later established some of the best known shops in the county; the tin peddler; the essence peddler. |
▪ II. essence, v.
(ˈɛsəns)
[f. prec. n.]
trans. a. To pour like an essence (in quot. fig.). b. To furnish or perfume with an essence. c. nonce-use. To compress the essence of (a book) into.
| a. 1635 Quarles Embl. i. v. (1718) 22 Love essenc'd in the hearts of men. |
| b. 1675 [see next]. 1735 Pope Donne Sat. iv. 232 [Ladies] Painted for sight, and essenced for the smell. 1784 Cowper Task ii. 227 A girl, all essenced o'er With odours. 1823 [see next]. |
| c. 1888 Punch 1 Dec. 257/2 Diamonds Led is a three⁓volume novel essenced into five pages. |