magisteries

Noun

magistery (countable and uncountable, plural magisteries)

1. (also, figuratively, historical) A pure quality with the power to cure or to turn one substance into another; also, a substance such as a philosopher's stone able to turn one substance into another.
   • [T]hey made proofe of the ſaid flowers dried, and this high magiſterie they found, That being beaten to pouder, they cured thoſe of the bloudie flix,^([sic – meaning flux]) vvho lay at the very point of death upon that diſeaſe; […]1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XXXIII.] The Medicinable Vertues Considered in the Flowers, Leaves, Fruit, Boughs, Branches, Barke, Wood, Juice, Root, and Ashes of Many...
2. (also, figuratively, historical, obsolete) The product of such a transformation.
3. (historical) A fine substance deposited by precipitation, formerly applied to certain white precipitates from metallic solutions.
   • magistery of bismuth (BiONO₃·H₂O)
4. (historical, obsolete) A concentrated extract of a substance.
5. (countable, obsolete) An art or a skill.
6. (countable, obsolete) Synonym of magistracy (“the dignity or office of a magistrate; the collective body of magistrates”).

   Synonyms:

   magistracy

See all 9 meanings of magistery