Forms: 4 elixir, 5–7 elixar, -er, (6 alixer). [a. med.L. elixir (cf. Fr. élixir, It. elissire, Sp. elíxir, Pg. elexir), ad. Arab. al-iksīr (= sense 1), prob. ad. late Gr. ξήριον ‘desiccative powder for wounds.’
1. Alchemy. A preparation by the use of which it was sought to change metals into gold. Sometimes identified with ‘the philosopher’s stone’; but perh. of wider meaning, including powders, liquids or vapours used for the same purpose. Also elixir-stone.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Chan. Yem. Prol. & T., 310. The philosophre stoon, Elixir clept, we sechen fast echoon.
1471. Ripley, Comp. Alch., in Ashm. (1652), 188. Thow must devyde thy Elixer whyte into partyes two.
1584. R. Scot, Discov. Witchcr., XIV. ii. 355. The philosophers stone, called Alixer.
1614. Rowlands, Fooles Bolt, 9. Fryer-Bacon … could teach Kelley the Elixar stone.
1667. Milton, P. L., III. 607. What wonder then if fields and regions here Breathe forth elixir pure, and Rivers run Potable Gold.
1676. Hale, Contempl., I. 297. A Good Man is like the Elixir, it turns Iron into Gold.
1855. Milman, Lat. Chr. (1864), IX. XIV. iii. 159. Roger Bacon sought … a transmuting Elixir with unlimited powers.
b. transf. and fig.
1635. Quarles, Embl., IV. iv. (1718), 202. True fear’s the Elixir, which in days of old Turn’d leaden crosses into crowns of gold.
1663. Cowley, Verses & Ess. (1669), 130.
| She taught him Loves Elixar, by which Art, | |
| His Godhead into Gold he did convert. |
1878. Browning, La Saisiaz, 51. I shall bless the kindly wrench that … left all grace Ashes in death’s stern alembic, loosed elixir in its place.
2. A supposed drug or essence with the property of indefinitely prolonging life; imagined by the alchemists to be either identical with, or closely related to, the ‘elixir’ of sense 1. More fully, Elixir of life (trans. med.L. elixir vitæ).
[1266. Roger Bacon, Opus Minus (Rolls Ser.), 314. Medicinam … quam philosophi vocant Elixir … Si libra medicinæ projiciatur super mille plumbi fiet … aurum … Et hoc est quod corpora infirma reducet ad sanitatem … et vitam … ultra contenarios annorum prolongabit.]
1605. Timme, Quersit., I. xiii. [Mercury, sulphur, and salt] … brought into one bodie (which the Arabians call elixir) … wil be … a medicine [etc.].
1799. Godwin, St. Leon (1801), II. xxv. 263–4. You are said to be a magician, a dealer in the unhallowed secrets of alchemy and the ELIXIR VITÆ.
1815. Moore, Lalla R. (1824), 136. I know too where the Genii hid The jewell’d cup of their king Jamshid With Life’s elixir sparkling high.
1826. Miss Mitford, Village, Ser. II. (1863), 318. Honey … was, in her mind … the true elixir vitæ.
1831. Brewster, Nat. Magic, xii. (1833), 299. Though the elixir of life has never been distilled.
1873. Dixon, Two Queens, I. II. i. 75. Carillo had been glad to toy with magic, and pursue the elixir of life.
b. A sovereign remedy for disease. Hence adopted as a name for quack medicines, as Daffy’s Elixir, etc.
1631. Massinger, Emperor East, IV. iii. (1632), I 2. A little Cyath, or quantitie of my potable Elixir.
1633. P. Fletcher, Purple Isl., XII. li. 171. The best Elixar for souls drooping pain.
1681. Ashmole, Diary, 11 April. I took early in the morning a good dose of elixer.
1681. Lond. Gaz., No. 1679/4. Anthony Daffy, Author of the Famous Elixir Salutis.
1713. Guardian, No. 11, ¶ 2 (1752), 52 (R.). The Grand Elixir, to support the Spirits of human Nature.
1724. Ramsay, Tea-t. Misc. (1733), I. 79.
| Take your glass to clear your een, | |
| ’Tis the elixir heals the spleen. |
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., An universal medicine … called by way of excellence, the grand elixir.
1768–74. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), II. 234. A sip of Daffy’s elixir in the morning rising has proved a powerful means of Grace.
1830. Scott, Demonol., v. 144. Before he established the reputation of his … elixir, or pill.
† 3. A strong extract or tincture. Obs. exc. Hist.
1597. Bp. Hall, Sat., II. iv. 43 (1599), 35.
| And bring Quintessence of Elixir pale, | |
| Out of sublimed spirits minerall. |
1673. Grew, Anat. Roots, II. § 60 (1682), 93. The remainder, is, as it were, an Oleous Elixyr, or extract, in the form of a Milk.
1677. W. Harris, trans. Lemery’s Chym. (ed. 3), 630. The name Elixir has been given to many Infusions, or Tinctures of spirituous Bodies prepared in spirituous Menstruum’s.
1820. Scott, Abbot, xxvii. That elixir being in truth a curious distillation of rectified acetum.
b. fig. The quintessence or soul of a thing; its kernel or secret principle.
1638. Chillingw., Relig. Prot., I. Pref. § 1. The Spirit and Elixir of all that can be said in defence of your Church and Doctrine.
1641. Milton, Ch. Govt., II. (1851), 181. A distill’d quintessence, a pure elixar of mischief, pestilent alike to all.
1675. Traherne, Chr. Ethicks, xxiv. 366. The chief Elixir of its [Love’s] Nature is founded in the Excellency of a Spirit, that Suffers for anothers sake.
1860. Emerson, Cond. Life, Fate, Wks. (Bohn), II. 311. Sometimes the rank unmitigated elixir, the family vice, is drawn off in a separate individual.
4. Pharmacy. (see quot.) Elixir of vitriol: aromatic sulphuric acid. Paregoric elixir: see PAREGORIC.
1736. Bailey, s.v., An Elixir is a compound magistery, i. e. a composition of various bodies chang’d after the same manner as a single body.
1783. F. Michaelis, in Med. Commun., I. 350. He ordered her … a gargle of decoction of bark, with elixir of vitriol.
1871. Napheys, Prev. & Cure Dis., I. viii. 203. Elixir of calisaya bark.
1884. Syd. Soc. Lex., Elixir, a preparation similar to a compound tincture. Also applied to a compound of many drugs with syrup and spirit.
5. Bot. Elixir of Love: an orchid (Grammatophyllum speciosum), a native of Java. Also a decoction made from the seeds of this plant.
6. Comb., as elixir-like adj.
a. 1631. Drayton, Poems, I. (1753), 201. O tears! Elixir-like turn all to tears you touch.
a. 1631. Donne, Poems (1650), 165.
| Soft dispositions which ductile be, | |
| Elixar-like, shee makes not cleane, but new. |
