Definition of "cupel" []

• A porous cup, often made of bone ash, used in assaying to separate precious metals from base elements such as lead. (noun)
• The bottom or receptacle in a silver-refining furnace. (noun)
• To assay or separate from base metals in a cupel. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Then a little lead (also weighed) is rolled up with the flake of silver and the two are melted at a great heat in a small vessel called a cupel, made by compressing bone ashes into a cup-shape in a steel mold."
• "June 28, 2008 at 3:53 am oh and I needz u to go ahead nd cum in on sunday 2. c we haz had a cupel uf layofs nd we sorta needz to pleh catchup"
• "You need to do it in a cupel of circumstances, when you are working on something or talking to someone."