Quin*tes"sence (?), n. [F., fr. L.
quinta essentia fifth essence. See Quint, and
Essence.] 1. The fifth or last and highest
essence or power in a natural body. See Ferment oils, under
Ferment. [Obs.]
☞ The ancient Greeks recognized four elements, fire, air,
water, and earth. The Pythagoreans added a fifth and called it nether,
the fifth essence, which they said flew upward at creation and out of
it the stars were made. The alchemists sometimes considered alcohol,
or the ferment oils, as the fifth essence.
2. Hence: An extract from anything, containing
its rarest virtue, or most subtle and essential constituent in a small
quantity; pure or concentrated essence.
Let there be light, said God; and forthwith light
Ethereal, first of things, quintessence pure,
Sprung from the deep.
Milton.Quin*tes"sence, v. t. To distil or
extract as a quintessence; to reduce to a quintessence. [R.]
Stirling. "Truth quintessenced and raised to the highest
power." J. A. Symonds.