2. The constituent quality or qualities which belong to any
object, or class of objects, or on which they depend for
being what they are (distinguished as real essence); the
real being, divested of all logical accidents; that
quality which constitutes or marks the true nature of
anything; distinctive character; hence, virtue or quality
of a thing, separated from its grosser parts.
The laws are at present, both in form and essence,
the greatest curse that society labors under.
--Landor.
Gifts and alms are the expressions, not the essence
of this virtue [charity]. --Addison.
The essence of Addison's humor is irony.
--Courthope.
3. Constituent substance.
And uncompounded is their essence pure. --Milton.
4. A being; esp., a purely spiritual being.
As far as gods and heavenly essences Can perish.
--Milton.
He had been indulging in fanciful speculations on
spiritual essences, until . . . he had and ideal
world of his own around him. --W. Irving.
5. The predominant qualities or virtues of a plant or drug,
extracted and refined from grosser matter; or, more
strictly, the solution in spirits of wine of a volatile or
essential oil; as, the essence of mint, and the like.
The . . . word essence . . . scarcely underwent a
more complete transformation when from being the
abstract of the verb ``to be,'' it came to denote
something sufficiently concrete to be inclosed in a
glass bottle. --J. S. Mill.
6. Perfume; odor; scent; or the volatile matter constituting
perfume.
Nor let the essences exhale. --Pope.