limbeck

English

Etymology

Aphetic form of alembic.

Noun

limbeck (plural limbecks)

1. (obsolete) An alembic.
   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:

     , 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”, in Poems, published 1633:

     I, by loves limbecke, am the grave / Of all, that's nothing.

   • 1922, Alfred Edward Housman, Last Poems, section III:

     Her strong enchantments failing,
     Her towers of fear in wreck,
     Her limbecks dried of poisons
     And the knife at her neck,
     The Queen of air and darkness
     Begins to shrill and cry,
     ‘O young man, O my slayer,
     To-morrow you shall die.’