A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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About this entry:
First published 1971 (DOST Vol. IV).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1607, 1672
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Matrix, n. [e.m.E. (1526) womb, (1555) medium in which something is ‘bred’, (1641) embedding or enclosing mass, etc., L. mātrix, mātric-em (cf. Matrice n.).] a. In alchemy: Appar., an enclosing vessel. b. The medium in which an organic substance is ‘bred’ or produced. —1607 Proceedings of Society of Antiquaries XI. 413.
For this mercury … enclosed in ane matrix will become blacke within … 40 dayes 1672 Sinclair Hydrostaticks 256.
Some trees … will yeeld … an acid liquor which … smells … of the matrix from which it did proceed
