cu•pel
Pronunciation: (ky'pul, ky-pel'), [key]
— n., v., -peled, -pel•ing -pelled, -pel•ling.
—n.
- a small, cuplike, porous container, usually made of bone ash, used in assaying, as for separating gold and silver from lead.
- a receptacle or furnace bottom in which silver is refined.
—v.t.
- to heat or refine in a cupel.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.