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philosopher's stone

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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The Alchemist in Search of the Philosopher’s Stone (1771) by Joseph Wright.
The philosopher’s stone in the movie version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001).

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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Noun

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philosopher's stone (plural philosopher's stones)

  2. (alchemy) 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.
    Synonyms: (dated) philosopher's egg, (US) sorcerer's stone
    • 1611, [Miles Smith], “The Translators to the Reader”, in The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC:
      Men talke much […] of the Philoſophers ſtone, that it turneth copper into gold; […]
    • 1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], chapter I, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume I, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC, page 54:
      […] I entered with the greatest diligence into the search of the philosopher's stone and the elixir of life.
    • 1997, Christopher McIntosh, The Rosicrucians: The History, Mythology, and Rituals of an Esoteric Order, Weiser Books, 3rd Revised Edition, 1998, Paperback, page 51,
      The Rosicrucianism of the Andreae era was only partly concerned with alchemy, but later revivals of the Rosicrucian idea were to lay great stress on their claims to possess the secrets of transmutation and the knowledge of the Philosopher's Stone or the Elixir of Life.
    • 2003, Stanton J. Linden, The Alchemy Reader: From Hermes Trismegistus to Isaac Newton, Cambridge University Press, page 44:
      The Cleopatra of this early alchemical dialogue is not the famous Cleopatra VII (69-30 BC), last queen of the Ptolemy dynasty and lover of Mark Antony. Along with Mary Prophetess and Zosimos's Theosebia, this Cleopatra occupies a high place in alchemical lore as one of very few ancient female adepts who possessed the secret of the philosopher's stone.
  3. A piece of such a substance.

Alternative forms

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Translations

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See also

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Further reading

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