From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishalchemyal‧che‧my /ˈælkəmi/ noun [uncountable] 1 HCa science studied in the Middle Ages, that involved trying to change ordinary metals into gold2 literary magic —alchemist noun [countable]
Examples from the Corpus
alchemy• Varo collected pre-Columbian art, studied eastern religions and was fascinated by the occult and alchemy, in particular.• financial alchemy• Newton had indeed been inspired by theories of sympathies and antipathies in alchemy and Hermetic philosophy.• You may be versed in necromancy, and steeped in alchemy, and schooled in the ancient cruel arts of your realm.• But it is a remarkable feat of alchemy indeed.• For this reason, Bachelard refers ironically to Sartre's phenomenology as a belated form of alchemy.• In particular in the sophisticated world of alchemy, the resonances of chemical and other truths were of the utmost importance.• Here was perhaps the nearest thing to alchemy that had ever been seen in the field of politics.• This leads him to focus on the twelfth century, and the mysteries connected with alchemy and the Order of the Temple.Origin alchemy (1300-1400) Old French alquemie, from Medieval Latin alchymia, from Arabic al-kimiya “the alchemy”, from Late Greek chemeia; → CHEMOTHERAPY 