What is "essence"

Essence \Es"sence\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Essenced; p. pr. & vb. n. Essencing.] To perfume; to scent. ``Essenced fops.''
--Addison.

Essence \Es"sence\, n. [F. essence, L. essentia, formed as if fr. a p. pr. of esse to be. See Is, and cf. Entity.]

1. The constituent elementary notions which constitute a complex notion, and must be enumerated to define it; sometimes called the nominal essence.

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.

late 14c., essencia (respelled late 15c. on French model), from Latin essentia "being, essence," abstract noun formed (to translate Greek ousia "being, essence") from essent-, present participle stem of esse "to be," from PIE *es- "to be" (cognates: Sanskrit asmi, Hittite eimi, Old Church Slavonic jesmi, Lithuanian esmi, Gothic imi, Old English eom "I am;" see be).\n

\nOriginally "substance of the Trinity;" the general sense of "basic element of anything" is first recorded in English 1650s, though this is the underlying notion of the first English use of essential. Meaning "ingredient which gives something its particular character" is from c.1600, especially of distilled oils from plants (1650s), hence "fragrance, perfume" (17c.). In 19c. U.S., essence-peddler could mean "medical salesman" and "skunk."

n. 1 (senseid en inherent nature)The inherent nature of a thing or idea. 2 (context philosophy English) The true nature of anything, not accidental or illusory. 3 Constituent substance. 4 A being; especially, a purely spiritual being. 5 A significant feature of something. 6 The concentrated form of a plant or drug obtained through a distillation process. 7 fragrance, a perfume.

1. n. the choicest or most essential or most vital part of some idea or experience; "the gist of the prosecutor's argument"; "the heart and soul of the Republican Party"; "the nub of the story" [syn: kernel, substance, core, center, gist, heart, heart and soul, inwardness, marrow, meat, nub, pith, sum, nitty-gritty]

2. any substance possessing to a high degree the predominant properties of a plant or drug or other natural product from which it is extracted

3. the central meaning or theme of a speech or literary work [syn: effect, burden, core, gist]

4. a toiletry that emits and diffuses a fragrant odor [syn: perfume]

In philosophy, essence is the attribute or set of attributes that make an entity or substance what it fundamentally is, and which it has by necessity, and without which it loses its identity. Essence is contrasted with accident: a property that the entity or substance has contingency, without which the substance can still retain its identity. The concept originates with Aristotle, who used the Greek expression to ti ên einai (τὸ τί ἦν εἶναι, literally meaning "the what it was to be" and corresponding to the scholastic term quiddity) or sometimes the shorter phrase to ti esti (τὸ τί ἐστι, literally meaning "the what it is" and corresponding to the scholastic term haecceity) for the same idea. This phrase presented such difficulties for its Latin translators that they coined the word essentia (English "essence") to represent the whole expression. For Aristotle and his scholastic followers, the notion of essence is closely linked to that of definition (ὁρισμός horismos).

In the history of western thought, essence has often served as a vehicle for doctrines that tend to individuate different forms of existence as well as different identity conditions for objects and properties; in this logical meaning, the concept has given a strong theoretical and common-sense basis to the whole family of logical theories based on the "possible worlds" analogy set up by Leibniz and developed in the intensional logic from Carnap to Kripke, which was later challenged by "extensionalist" philosophers such as Quine.

Essence is a monthly magazine for African-American women between the ages of 18 and 49. The magazine covers fashion, lifestyle and beauty, with an intimate girlfriend-to-girlfriend tone, and their slogan "Fierce, Fun, and Fabulous" suggests the magazine's goal of empowering African-American women. The topics the magazine discusses range from celebrities, to fashion, to point-of-view pieces addressing current issues in the African-American community.

Essence is Lucinda Williams' sixth album. It was released in 2001. The album debuted on the Billboard 200 at number 28, selling about 44,500 copies in its first week. According to Billboard as of February 2008, the album had sold 336,000 copies in the U.S.

Essence is the attribute (or set of attributes) that make an object or substance what it fundamentally is.

Essence may also refer to:

• The essential oil of a given substance
• Essence (poetry journal), edited and published by Connecticut poet/author, Joseph Payne Brennan, New Haven, CT. Forty-seven (47) issues, I - XLVII, 1950-1977.
• Essence (magazine), an African American magazine with a primarily female readership
• Essence (John Lewis album), 1962
• Essence (Don Ellis album), 1962
• Essence (Eric Kloss album), 1973
• Essence, a 2000 album by A Guy Called Gerald
• Essence (Lucinda Williams album), 2001, or the title song
• Essence (Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-based Epidemics), a United States Department of Defense health-protection initiative
• Essence (yacht), an American yacht sank in a collision with a cargo ship on 29 April 2009
• "Essence" (The X-Files), a 2001 episode of television show The X-Files
• Essence, a measure of a living being's lifeforce in the role-playing game Shadowrun
• Essence, the mystical force in the pen and paper role-playing game Exalted
• Essence, an OMG standard on software engineering created by the SEMAT initiative
• Extract used as a food flavoring

Essence is the United States Department of Defense's Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-based Epidemics. Essence's goal is to monitor health data as it becomes available and discover epidemics and similar health concerns before they move out of control. It was created and developed in 1999 by Dr. Michael Lewis, MD, MPH, when he was a resident in the Preventive Medicine residency training program at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Silver Spring, Maryland. Originally designed for early detection of bioterrorism attacks in the Washington, DC, area, following the attacks of 9/11/2001, the U.S. Army Surgeon General, LTG James Peake, MD, ordered Jay Mansfield, the information technology specialist responsible for the IT development of ESSENCE, to expand ESSENCE to look globally at the entire DoD military Healthcare System as it was originally designed. Subsequently, ESSENCE has been adopted and adapted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Johns Hopkins University, and numerous health departments around the United States and other countries. The International Society of Disease Surveillance was formed following a May 2000 meeting to present Dr. Lewis' work to surveillance leaders from around the world. ISDS will hold its 12th annual meeting in December 2013.

"Essence" is the twentieth and penultimate episode of the eighth season and the 181st episode overall of the science fiction television series The X-Files. The episode first aired in the United States on May 13, 2001 on Fox, and subsequently aired in the United Kingdom. It was written by executive producer Chris Carter and directed by Kim Manners. "Essence" earned Nielsen rating of 7.7 and was viewed by 12.8 million viewers. The episode received largely positive reviews from critics.

The show centers on FBI special agents John Doggett ( Robert Patrick) and Dana Scully ( Gillian Anderson)—as well as ex-FBI agent Fox Mulder ( David Duchovny)—who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files. In this episode, Mulder, Walter Skinner ( Mitch Pileggi), and Doggett come up against the horrible consequences of the Syndicate’s pact with the aliens, as Billy Miles ( Zachary Ansley)—reprogrammed as a soldier—attempts to erase all evidence of the tests—including Scully's soon-to-be-born baby. Upon hearing information from Alex Krycek ( Nicholas Lea), the men reluctantly call upon him as well as Monica Reyes ( Annabeth Gish) to help them.

"Essence" is a story milestone for the series. It was one of the later season eight episodes, starting with " Per Manum", that introduced the story arc about super-soldiers, which would continue throughout the ninth season. The series was the first part of two, and concluded with the season finale " Existence". In addition, Nicholas Lea reprises his role as Alex Krycek, who temporarily switches sides and aides Mulder and Scully.

Essence is an album by trumpeter Don Ellis recorded in 1962 and released on the Pacific Jazz label.

Essence is the thirteenth album by saxophonist Eric Kloss which was recorded in 1973 and released on the Muse label.

Essence (subtitled John Lewis Plays the Compositions & Arrangements of Gary McFarland) is an album by pianist and conductor John Lewis recorded for the Atlantic label in 1960 and 1962.