principiation

English

Noun

principiation (countable and uncountable, plural principiations)

1. (archaic) analysis into primary or elemental parts
   • a. 1626, Francis Bacon, Questions Touching Minerals:

     the separating of any metal into his original , or materia prima , or element , or call them what you will ; which work we will call principiation

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “principiation”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)