essence

plural essences

1. countableuncountableThe inherent nature of a thing or idea.

   The essence of Addison’s humour is irony.

   1884, William John Courthope, chapter IX, in Addison, London: Macmillan and Co., page 182

   3 more examples

   CHARITY is a virtue of the heart, and not of the hands, ſays an old writer. Gifts and alms are the expreſſions, not the eſſence of this virtue.

   1713 September 21, Joseph Addison, The Guardian, collected in The Works of the Late Right Honorable Joseph Addison, volume IV, Birmingham: John Baskerville, published 1761, page 263

   They [the laws] are at present, both in form and essence, the greatest curse that society labours under ; the scorn of the wicked, the consternation of the good, the refuge of those who violate, and the ruin of those who appeal to them.

   1824, Walter Savage Landor, “Oliver Cromwel and Walter Noble”, in Imaginary Conversations, 2nd edition, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, published 1826, page 105

   It may be that a free society as we have known it carries in itself the forces of its own destruction, that once freedom has been achieved it is taken for granted and ceases to be valued, and that the free growth of ideas which is the essence of a free society will bring about the destruction of the foundations on which it depends.

   1949, F. A. Hayek, “The Intellectuals and Socialism”, in University of Chicago Law Review, volume 16, number 3, Chicago: University of Chicago, →DOI, pages 431-432

   Synonyms: quintessence

2. countableuncountablehuman sciencesThe true nature of anything, not accidental or illusory.
3. countableuncountableConstituent substance.

   For Spirits when they pleaſe / Can either Sex aſſume, or both ; ſo ſoft / And uncompounded is their Eſſence pure, / Not ti’d or manacl’d with joynt or limb, / Nor founded on the brittle ſtrength of bones, / Like cumbrous fleſh[…]

   1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 423–429

4. countableuncountableA being; especially, a purely spiritual being.

   He [Gottfried Wolfgang] had been indulging in fanciful speculations on spiritual essences, until, like Swedenborg, he had an ideal world of his own around him.

   1824, Washington Irving, “The Adventure of the German Student”, in The Works of Washington Irving, new edition, volume VII, New York: G. P. Putnam & Company, published 1853, page 55

   1 more example

   And put to proof his high Supremacy, / Whether upheld by ſtrength, or Chance, or Fate, / Too well I ſee and rue the dire event, / That with ſad overthrow and foul defeat / Hath loſt us Heav’n, and all this mighty Hoſt / In horrible deſtruction laid thus low, / As far as Gods and Heav’nly Eſſences / Can Periſh.

   1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 132–139

5. countableuncountableA significant feature of something.

   Synonyms: gist

6. countableuncountableThe concentrated form of a plant or drug obtained through an extraction or distillation process.

   essence of Jojoba

7. countableuncountableAn extract or concentrate obtained from a plant or other matter used for flavouring, or as a restorative.

   vanilla essence

   2 more examples

   She bathed the face of the sleeper with some essence, raised her in her arms, and called upon her name.

   1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter IV, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 78

   There was no one to cook the necessary food that the invalids required to pick up their strength; no fowls to be bought, to make into the essence that is so generally given to fever patients wherever I have been since.

   1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 150

8. countableuncountableFragrance, a perfume.

   Our humbler province is to tend the Fair, / Not a leſs pleaſing, tho’ leſs glorious care ; / To ſave the powder from too rude a gale, / Nor let th’ impriſon’d eſſences exhale[…]

   1712, Alexander Pope, “The Rape of the Lock”, in The Beauties of Pope, London: G. Kearsley, published 1783, page 36

   Synonyms: aroma

1. A female given name of African-American usage.