Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Mercury considered in alchemy to be the primary source of all metals.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In alchemy, mercury, as the assumed first principle of all metals.
  • noun The universal specific or panacea of Paracelsus.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The first principle of metals, i. e., mercury, which was formerly supposed to exist in all metals, and to be extractable from them.
  • noun The universal remedy of Paracelsus.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun alchemy The first principle of metals, that is, mercury, which was formerly supposed to exist in all metals, and to be extractable from them.
  • noun The universal remedy of Paracelsus.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English azoc, from Old French, from Arabic az-zā’uq, the mercury : al-, the + zā’uq, mercury (from Syriac zīwag, of Iranian origin; see gwei- in Indo-European roots).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Andalusian Arabic الزُوقْ, from Arabic الزّاوُوق (az-zāwūq).

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Examples

  • As I often do, I combined recipes from many sources into one, and this time I struck azoth.

    Kenneth Hite's Journal princeofcairo 2006

  • The first time you saw her she had a azoth, and you had to jump out the window to get away.

    Exodus From The Long Sun Wolfe, Gene 1996

  • He told me you'd urged him to give me the azoth, and said something I'd forgotten until now.

    Exodus From The Long Sun Wolfe, Gene 1996

  • In his mind's eye, Silk saw the talus he had killed; the shimmering discontinuity that was the blade of the azoth he had thought Hyacinth's had struck it below the eye, vaporizing metal and inflicting a mortal wound.

    Exodus From The Long Sun Wolfe, Gene 1996

  • She pointed to the messenger, realizing too late that she was doing it with the hilt of her azoth.

    Exodus From The Long Sun Wolfe, Gene 1996

  • Ragged fire from the slug guns ended in a choking cloud of plaster dust and an ear-splitting roar as most of the west wall fell, severed from its foundations by the azoth Silk had received from Doctor Crane and given to Maytera Mint.

    Exodus From The Long Sun Wolfe, Gene 1996

  • His waistband claimed the azoth; it was possible that augury would provide some hint of what he ought to do with it.

    Calde of the Long Sun Wolfe, Gene 1994

  • He placed the azoth on his bureau, put Hyacinth's needler and his beads beside it, and removed his trousers.

    Calde of the Long Sun Wolfe, Gene 1994

  • Her right hand, still clutching the azoth, had begun the sign of addition when Rock grabbed her from behind and dashed away with her.

    Calde of the Long Sun Wolfe, Gene 1994

  • Five chains away, the blade of the azoth wrecked a fusion generator, and the soldier whose heart it had been died.

    Calde of the Long Sun Wolfe, Gene 1994

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