Dictionary

crucible en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈkɹuː.sɪ.bəl/
• (US) audio

Etymology

From Latin crucibulum (“night-lamp, metallurgic melting-pot”), apparently a derivative of crux (“cross”), perhaps by analogy to thūribulum (“censer”) and suffix -bulum, or from crucio (“to torment”).

Meanings

1. A cup-shaped piece of laboratory equipment used to contain chemical compounds when heating them to very high temperatures.
   • In one corner of the closet was a very small furnace, with a glowing fire in it, and on the fire a kind of duplicate crucible—two crucibles connected by a tube. One of these crucibles was nearly full of lead in a state of fusion, but not reaching up to the aperture of the tube, which was close to the brim. 1850, Edgar Allan Poe, “Von Kempelen and His Discovery”, in The Works of the Late Edgar Allan Poe:
   • He turned the downstairs drawing room into a lab, installing a furnace, crucible, and fume hood, and stocking it with hundreds of beakers, flasks, pipes, and balances. 2015, Steve Silberman, chapter 1, in Megan Newman, editor, NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity, New York: Avery, →ISBN, page 27:
2. A heat-resistant container in which metals are melted, usually at temperatures above 500°C, commonly made of graphite with clay as a binder.
3. The bottom and hottest part of a blast furnace; the hearth.
4. (figuratively) A very difficult and trying experience, that acts as a refining or hardening process.
   • Beowulf's mood as he gets ready to fight the dragon - who could be read as a projection of Beowulf's own chthonic wisdom refined in the crucible of experience - recalls the mood of other tragic heroes. 1999, Seamus Heaney, “Introduction”, in Beowulf, London: Faber and Faber, page xix:
   • We should give our support to the liberation of the captive nations of the world and deliver our compatriots from their crucible of suffering. In other words, we should take up the difficult task of reshaping the world’s destiny by destroying the tyrannical Communist rule now afflicting the earth and by delivering humankind from the Red holocaust. 1973 July 22 [1973 July 17], Chiang Kai-shek, “President Chiang Kai-shek's message to the mass rally supporting Captive Nations Week”, in Free China Weekly, volume XIV, number 28, Taipei, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 1:
   • Some of our ancestors faced trials that we will never know—the snows of Valley Forge; the crucible of a bitter, bloody civil war; and the incredible hardships endured in taming a savage wilderness. 1982 July 3, Ronald Reagan, Presidential Radio Address:
   • But, in considering an author and his works as one, a sufficient distinction is not drawn between the ideal and the real: the last is only given by being past through the crucible of the first. 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “A First Night”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 70:

Forms

Coordinates

trial by fire

Deriveds

Gooch crucible · Hessian crucible · crucible steel

Translations (100)

pt crisol (cup-shaped piece of laboratory equipment) · da smeltedigel (cup-shaped piece of laboratory equipment) · ru ти́гель (cup-shaped piece of laboratory equipment) · ar مِحْنَة (difficult and trying experience) · mi oko whakarewa (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · fa بوته (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · cs tavicí kelímek (cup-shaped piece of laboratory equipment) · nl vuurproef (difficult and trying experience) · hy բով (difficult and trying experience) · ar اِخْتِبَار قَاسٍ (difficult and trying experience) · fi upokas (cup-shaped piece of laboratory equipment) · sk tégeľ (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · sv smältdegel (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · hy քուրա (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · is digull (cup-shaped piece of laboratory equipment) · de Schmelztiegel (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · cmn 嚴峻考驗 /严峻考验 (difficult and trying experience) · grc χόανος (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · de Tiegel (cup-shaped piece of laboratory equipment) · tl lila (cup-shaped piece of laboratory equipment) · nl smeltkroes (cup-shaped piece of laboratory equipment) · fi sulatuspata (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · cy crwsibl (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · cs tavicí kelímek (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · tr pota (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · cmn 磨難 /磨难 (difficult and trying experience) · syc ܒܘܕܩܐ (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · cs žíhací kelímek (cup-shaped piece of laboratory equipment) · cs tyglík (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · sk téglik (cup-shaped piece of laboratory equipment) · ca gresol (cup-shaped piece of laboratory equipment) · fr épreuve du feu (difficult and trying experience) · ko 도가니 (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · ca gresol (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · fr épreuve (difficult and trying experience) · uga 𐎎𐎕𐎗𐎔 (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · et tiigel (cup-shaped piece of laboratory equipment) · tg бӯта (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · fi pesä (bottom and hottest part of a blast furnace) · cmn 試煉 /试炼 (difficult and trying experience) · ms mangkuk pijar (cup-shaped piece of laboratory equipment) · cs tyglík (cup-shaped piece of laboratory equipment) · cy llestr toddi (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · it crogiolo (cup-shaped piece of laboratory equipment) · cy pair (difficult and trying experience) · de Feuerprobe (difficult and trying experience) · el χωνευτήρι (cup-shaped piece of laboratory equipment) · es prueba de fuego (difficult and trying experience) · uga 𐎎𐎕𐎗𐎔 (cup-shaped piece of laboratory equipment) · la crucibulum (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · es crisol (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · ca gresol (bottom and hottest part of a blast furnace) · fr creuset (cup-shaped piece of laboratory equipment) · fa بوتهٔ چینی (cup-shaped piece of laboratory equipment) · pt prova de fogo (difficult and trying experience) · pl tygiel (cup-shaped piece of laboratory equipment) · cs zkouška ohněm (difficult and trying experience) · hu tűzpróba (difficult and trying experience) · mk тигел (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · ota پوته (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · pt cadinho (cup-shaped piece of laboratory equipment) · nl smeltkroes (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · la conflatorium (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · cs žíhací kelímek (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · it crogiolo (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · fi tulikoe (difficult and trying experience) · pl ciężka próba (difficult and trying experience) · he קמין (bottom and hottest part of a blast furnace) · ja 坩堝 (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · af smeltkroes (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · es crisol (cup-shaped piece of laboratory equipment) · ja 坩堝 (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · ar بُوتَقة (cup-shaped piece of laboratory equipment) · pl tygiel (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · bg ти́гел (cup-shaped piece of laboratory equipment) · da ildprøve (difficult and trying experience) · pt crisol (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · ru ти́гель (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · eo fandujo (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · cmn 坩堝 /坩埚 (cup-shaped piece of laboratory equipment) · mi oko whakawera (cup-shaped piece of laboratory equipment) · de Tiegel (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · fi upokas (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · fr creuset (bottom and hottest part of a blast furnace) · bg ти́гел (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · gu રેજા (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · et tiigel (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · da smeltedigel (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · cmn 坩堝 /坩埚 (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · fr creuset (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · sv degel (cup-shaped piece of laboratory equipment) · is deigla (cup-shaped piece of laboratory equipment) · af smeltkroes (cup-shaped piece of laboratory equipment) · hu olvasztótégely (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · ro creuzet (cup-shaped piece of laboratory equipment) · cy tawddlestr (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted) · ru суро́вое испыта́ние (difficult and trying experience) · cmn 爐膛 /炉膛 (bottom and hottest part of a blast furnace) · cy profedigaeth (difficult and trying experience) · pt cadinho (heat-resistant container in which metals are melted)