I. kwin.ˈtes ə n(t)s archaic ˈkwintəsən- noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French quinte essence, from Medieval Latin quinta essentia (translation of Greek pemptē ousia ), from Latin quinta (feminine of quintus fifth) + essentia essence — more at essence
1.
a. : the fifth or last and highest substance in ancient and medieval philosophy above fire, air, water, and earth that permeates all nature and is the constituent matter of the celestial bodies : ether 1b
b. old chemistry : an alcoholic tincture obtained by extraction
2. : the essence of an especially immaterial thing in its purest and most concentrated form : the most perfect or rarest distillation or extract
the quintessence of music is, after all, melody — Winthrop Sargeant
gets his articles down to digests and his digests down to quintessences in single paragraphs or sentences — F.L.Mott
3. : the most typical example or representative : the consummate instance (as of a quality or class)
the quintessence of pride
the quintessence of all the heroines of fiction — Saturday Review
II. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
: quintessentialize
love quintessenced and alembicated till it hardly knows itself — Gamaliel Bradford