essence 
Whatever makes a thing to be what it is, is properly 
called its essence. Self-consciousness, therefore, is the es- 
sence of the mind, because it is in virtue of self-conscious- 
ness that the mind is the mind that a man is himself. 
Fei-ricr. 
But when in heaven she shall his essence see, 
This is her soveraigne good and perfect blisse. 
Sir J. Dairies. 
I shall not fear to know things for what they are. Their 
essence is not less beautiful than their appearance. 
Emerson, Essays, 1st ser., p. 180. 
To hold everything worthy of knowledge but the faith 
by which he has lived, is to hold the accidents of life bet- 
ter than its essence. Contemporary liev., LI. 218. 
Hence 2. The distinctive characteristic ; that 
which is expressed by the definition of any term : 
as, the essence of a miser's character is avarice. 
When Louis XIV. said, "I am the state," he expressed 
the essence of the doctrine of unlimited power. 
D. Webster, Bunker Hill Monument, June 17, 1826. 
The essence of savagery seems to consist in the retention 
of a primordial condition. 
Darwin, Express, of Emotions, p. 235. 
He who believes in goodness lias the essence of all faith. 
He is a man " of cheerful yesterdays and confident to- 
morrows." J. F. Clarke, Self-Culture, p. 259. 
3. That part of anything which gives it its in- 
dividual character or quality : as, this summary 
contains the essence of the book. 
Mix'd with bestial slime, 
This essence to incarnate and imbrute. 
Milton, P. L., ix. 166. 
4. Existence ; being. 
I might have been persuaded to have resigu'd my very 
essence. Sidney. 
I would resign my essence, that lie were 
As happy as my love could fashion him. 
Fletcher, Spanish Curate, iv. 4. 
Our love scarce measur'd a short hour in essence, 
But in expectancy it was eternal. 
Beau, and Fl. (?), Faithful Friends, iii. 3. 
5. An elementary ingredient or constituent; 
anything uncompounded: as, the fifth essence 
(that is, the fifth element in the philosophy of 
Aristotle, or the upper air, the other four be- 
ing, in their order, earth, water, air, and fire). 
See quintessence. 
Here be four of you, as differing as the four elements; 
and yet you are friends : as for Eupolis, because he is tem- 
perate and without passion, he may be the fifth essence. 
Bacon. 
6. Anything of ethereal, pure, or heavenly sub- 
stance ; anything immaterial. [This meaning 
is derived from the use of fifth essence for the 
ether or upper air (see def. 5).] 
Her honour is an essence that's not seen. 
Shak., Othello, Iv. 1. 
As far as gods and heavenly essences 
Can perish. Milton, P. L., i. 138. 
7. Any kind of matter which, being an ingredi- 
ent or a constituent of some better-known sub- 
stance, gives it its peculiar character ; an ex- 
tract ; especially, an oil distilled at a compara- 
tively low temperature from a plant in which 
it already exists: as, essence of peppermint. 
In pharmacy the term is applied also to solutions of such 
oils in alcohol, to strong alcoholic tinctures, etc. 
These poems differ from others as atar of roses differs 
from ordinary rose water, the close packed essence from 
the thin diluted mixture. Macaulay, Milton. 
8. Perfume; odor; scent; also, the volatile 
matter constituting perfume. 
What though the Flower it self do waste, 
The Essence from it drawn does long and sweeter last. 
Cowley, The Mistress, Dialogue, 
Nor let th' imprisoned essences exhale. 
Pope, R. of the L., ii. 94. 
His essences turn'd the live air sick. 
Tennyson, Maud, xiii. 1. 
Of. Importance; moment; essentiality. 
I hold the entry of common-places to be a matter of 
great use and essence in studying. 
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 231. 
There's something 
Of essence to my life, exacts my care. 
Shirley, The Brothers, iv. 1. 
Banana essence. See banana. Being of essence 
See quidditatine bring, under being. Bergamot-pear 
essence, an artificial essence imparting the flavor of the 
bergamot-pear. It is a solution of 30 parts of acetate of 
amyl ether and 1 of acetic ether in 200 part* of alcohol 
Essence of anchovies, a kind of anchovy-sauce. 
Essence of bergamot. See berrjamoti. Essence of 
cumin. See fuiniii. Essence of mirbane. Same as 
nitrobeiuol. - Essence of pineapple. Same as ethi/l ku- 
tyrate (which see, under Imti/rate). Nominal, real es- 
sence. See the citation from Locke under def 1 Ori- 
ental-pearl essence, essence of the East a liquor lire- 
pared from the scales of various cyprinoid and clupeoid 
fishes, some of which are popularly known as whitings, as 
the bleak. AJburnus luridnx. and used to give their bril- 
liant iridescent coating to artificial pearls. The scales are 
taken from the fish, left In water until the slimy matter 
adhering to them settles, then rubhed down in a mortar 
2008 
with fresh water, and strained through a linen cloth. Am- 
monia is added, both to prevent decomposition and, by its 
volatilization, to aid in coating the pearls, whether the na- 
creous film is to be on the interior surface of a blown pearl 
or on the exterior of a bead of glass or paste, as for Chi- 
nese or Roman pearls. 
essence (es'ens), v. t. ; pret. and pp. essenced, 
ppr. essencing. [< essence, n., 8.] To perfume; 
scent. 
Let not powder'd Heads, nor esscnc'd Hair, 
Your well-believing, easie Hearts ensnare. 
Conyreve, tr. of Ovid's Art of Love. 
And tender as a girl, all essenced o'er 
With odours. Coivper, Task, ii. 227. 
essence-peddler (es'ens-ped'ler). . The skunk. 
[Low, IT. S.] 
Essenes (e-senz'), n. pi. [Formerly also Es- 
sens; < LL. Esseiti, < Gr. 'Y,aafjvoi, also 'Eaaalot, 
the Essenes. The origin of the name is un- 
known. See Assidean.'] A community of Jews 
in Palestine formed in the second century B. c., 
originally representing a tendency rather than 
constituting an organized sect, and aiming at 
a higher degree of holiness than that attained 
by other Jews. Later they were organized into a sort 
of monastic society, bound together by oaths to piety, 
justice, obedience, honesty, and secrecy. According to 
Philo, their conduct was regulated by three rules" the 
love of God, the love of virtue, and the love of man." 
They rejected animal sacrifices, but were strict in their 
observance of the non-Levitical Mosaic law. They were 
ascetics and generally celibates. They never extended, as 
a body, beyond the bounds of Palestine, and disappeared 
after the destruction of Jerusalem. 
Except happely we like the profession of the Essens, of 
whom Josephus speaketh, that the! will neither have wife 
nor servauntes. Sir T. Wilson, Art of Rhetoric (1553). 
Essenian (e-se'ni-an), a. [< Essene + -ian.] 
Of or pertaining to the Essenes. 
The survivors of those [Jews] who had suffered in Egypt 
under Trajan, who were half Christian and Essenian, . . . 
had at first no dislike to Hadrian. 
X. A. Rev., CXXXVII. 496. 
Essenism (e-se'nizm), . [< Essene + -ism.'} 
The doctrines, principles, or practices of the 
Essenes. 
essential (e-sen'shal), a. and . [=F. essentiel 
= Pr. essential = Sp. esencial = Pg. essential = 
It. essenziale, < ML. essentialis, < L. essentia, es- 
sence: see essence.] I. a. 1. Involved in the 
essence, definition, or nature of a thing or of a 
word: as, an essential character; an essential 
quality. 
Life's but a word, a shadow, a melting dream, 
Compar'd to essential and eternal honour. 
Fletcher (and another), Love's Cure, v. 3. 
The soul's essential pow'rs are three : 
The quick'iiing pow'r, the pow'r of sense, and reason. 
Sir J. Davies, Immortal, of Soul, xxxiii. 
In proportion to the diversity and multiplicity of the 
cases to which any statement applies is the probability 
that it sets forth the essential relations. 
//. Spencer, Prin. of Biol., 262. 
As physicists we are forced to say that, while somewhat 
has been learned as to the properties of matter, its essen- 
tial nature is quite unknown to us. 
A. Daniell, Prin. of Physics, Int., p. 2. 
2. Constituting or making that which is char- 
acteristic or most important in a thing; funda- 
mental; indispensable: as, an 'essential feature 
of Shakspere's style. 
To the Nutrition of the Body there are two essential 
Conditions required, Assumption and Retention. 
Unwell, Letters, I. v. 9. 
I doubted if the near neighborhood of man was not es- 
sential to a serene and healthy life. 
Thoreau, Walden, p. 143. 
For verification is absolutely essential to discovery. 
J. Fiske, Cosmic Philos., I. 128. 
3. Specifically, in med., idiopathic, not symp- 
tomatic merely. 4. Pertaining to or proceed- 
ing from an essence ; of the nature of an es- 
sence or extract. 
From humble violet, modest thyme, 
Exhaled, the essential odors climb. 
Wordsworth, Devotional Incitement. 
Essential act. See act. Essential breadth. See 
breadth. Essential character, a character involved 
in the definition of that to which it belongs. Essential 
cognitiont. See cognition. Essential convenience*, 
unity of essence ; identity. 
Simple convenience is either essential or accidental. 
Essential is that which we call identity. 
Burg-ersdicius, tr. by a Gentleman, i. 20. 
Essential definition. See definition. Essential dif- 
ference, distinction, diversity, a difference, distinc- 
tion, etc., given in the definitions of the things distin- 
guished. Essential dignity. See dignity.- Essential 
form. Same as substantial form (which see, under form). 
Essential harmony. See harmony. Essential 
notes. See note. Essential Oil, a volatile oil occurring 
in a plant, and giving it its characteristic odor. Essential 
oils are either distilled or expressed ; they are mostly hy- 
drocarbons. Many of them have precisely the same chem- 
ical composition, ami though they are distinguished by 
various physical characters, their excellence can only be 
essomer 
determined by the sense of smell. Essential perfec- 
tion. See perfection. Essential seventh, in mutie, the 
seventh tone or the seventh chord of the dominant of any 
key. Essential singularity, a singularity of a function 
consisting in the latter becoming altogether indeterminate 
for a certain value of the variable. Thus, e l l* is altogether 
indeterminate for x = ; for it is represented by an infinite 
series of circles tangent to one another at one point ; and 
one of these circles is infinitesimal. Essential whole, 
that whose parts are matter and form. =Syn. 2. Requisite, 
etc. (see necessary), vital. 
II. . If. Existence; being. [Rare.] 
His utmost ire, which, to the heighth enraged, 
Will either quite consume us, and reduce 
To nothing this essential. Milton, P. L. , ii. 97. 
2. A fundamental or constituent principle ; a 
distinguishing characteristic. 
I maintain this to be a dedication, notwithstanding its 
singularity in the three great essentials, of matter, form, 
and place. Sterne, Tristram Shandy, i. 8. 
The dispute . . . about surplices and attitudes had too 
long divided those who were agreed as to the essentials of 
religion. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vii. 
In what regards poetry I should just as soon expect a 
sound judgmentof its essentials from a boatman or a wag- 
goner as from the usual set of persons we meet in society. 
Landor. 
essentiality (e-sen-shi-al'i-ti), M. [< essential 
+ -ity.'] The quality of being essential. 
Another property, the desirableness and essentiality of 
which is no less obvious on the part of an aggregated mass 
of testimony, is that of being complete. 
Bentham, Judicial Evidence, 1. 2. 
The essentiality of what we call poetry. 
Poe, Poetic Principle. 
essentially (e-sen'shal-i), adv. 1. By reason of 
natural constitution ; in essence : as, minerals 
and plants are essentially different. 
That I essentially am not in madness, 
But mad in craft. Shak., Hamlet, iii. 4. 
Malvolio is not essentially ludicrous. Lamb, Old Actors. 
We cannot describe the time of an event except by ref- 
erence to some other event, or the place of a body except 
by reference to some other body. All our knowledge, 
both of time and place, is essentially relative. 
Clerk Maxwell, Matter and Motion, art. xviii. 
2. In an essential manner or degree ; in effect ; 
fundamentally : as, the two statements do not 
differ essentially. 
In estimating Shakespeare, it should never be forgotten 
that, like Goethe, he was essentialli/ observer and artist, 
and incapable of partisanship. 
Lowell, Among my Books, 1st ser., p. 152. 
essentialness (e-sen'shal-nes), n. Same as es- 
'sentiality. 
essentiatet (e-sen'shi-at), v. [< L. essentia, es- 
sence, + -ate 2 .] I. intraiis. To become of the 
essence of something. 
What comes nearest the nature of that it feeds, con- 
verts quicker to nourishment, and doth sooner essentiate. 
B. Jonson, Every Man out of His Humour, v. 4. 
II. trans. To form or constitute the essence 
or being of. Boyle. 
essling (es'ling), n. A young salmon. Quar- 
terly Rev., CXXVI. 352. [Eng.] 
essoint, essoignt (e-soin'), n. and a. [== Sc. es- 
sonyie, essonzie ; < ME. essoyne, essoine, essonie, 
asoine, assoine, excuse, < OF. essoine, essoigne, 
exoine, mod. F. exoine, reflected in ML. essonia, 
exoina, exonia (> E. exon, q. v.), < es-, L. ex, out, 
+ soin, care, trouble. Cf. Insognio.'] I. n. 1. 
In old Eng. law, an excuse for not appearing in 
court to defend an action on the day appointed 
for that purpose ; the alleging of such an ex- 
cuse. 
In which suite no essoine, protection, wager of lawe, or 
injunction shall be allowed. Hakluyt's Voyages, I. 371. 
The freeman who ought to have attended [the Popular 
Courts] preferred to stay at home, sending his excuse or 
twain for the neglect, and submitting to a fine if it were 
insufficient. Maine, Early Law and Custom, p. 178. 
2. Excuse; exemption. 
From everie worke he chalenged essoyne 
For contemplation sake. Spenser, F. Q., I. iv. 20. 
3. One who is excused for non-appearance in 
court on the day appointed. Clerk of the es- 
SOlns. See clerk. 
II. a. In law, allowed for the appearance of 
suitors: an epithet applied to the first three 
days of a term, now disused.. 
essoint (e-soin'), v. t. [< essoin, .] In old Eng. 
law, to allow an excuse for non-appearance in 
court ; excuse for absence. 
Away, with wings of time ; I'll not essoin thee ; 
Denounce these fiery judgements, I enjoin thee. 
(Juarles, Hist. Jonah (1020), sig. G, 3. ('. i>.) 
essoinert (e-soi'ner), n. One who essoins, or 
offers an excuse for non-appearance in court ; 
specifically, an attorney who sufficiently ex- 
cuses the absence of his clients or of one who 
has been summoned. 
