limbeck

English

Etymology

Apheticized form of alembic.

Noun

limbeck (plural limbecks)

  1. (obsolete) An alembic.
    • 1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy, Oxford: Printed by Iohn Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 216894069; The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd corrected and augmented edition, Oxford: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, 1624, OCLC 54573970, (please specify |partition=1, 2, or 3):
      , II.i.1:
      […] some of our modern chemists by their strange limbecks, by their spells, philosopher's stones and charms.
    • a. 1631, John Donne, ‘A nocturnall upon S. Lucies day’, Poems (1633):
      I, by loves limbecke, am the grave / Of all, that's nothing.
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