Webster's English Dictionary

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alchemy

al.che.my \'al-k*-me-\ n [ME alkamie, alquemie, fr. MF or ML; MF alquemie, 
   fr. ML a]lchymia, fr. Ar al-ki-miya-', fr. al the + ki-miya-' alchemy, fr. 
   LGk che-meia 1: a medieval chemical science and speculative philosophy 
   aiming to achieve  the transmutation of the base metals into gold, the 
   discovery of a universal cure for disease, and the discovery of a means of 
   indefinitely prolonging life 2: a power or process of transforming 
   something common into something preci ous