An apparatus formerly used in distilling, consisting of a gourd-shaped vessel containing the substance to be distilled, surmounted by the alembic proper, the beak of which conveyed the vaporous products to a receiver, in which they were condensed It is now superceded by the "retort" and "wormstill "
[ &-'lem-bik ] (noun.) 14th century. From French alambic, from mediæval Latin alembicus, from Arabic إنْبِيق (’inbīq, “still”), from Ancient Greek ἄμβιξ (ambix, “cup, cap of a still”).