Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - alchemy

 noun  Etymology: Middle English alkamie, alquemie, from Middle French or Medieval Latin; Middle French alkimie, from Medieval Latin alchymia, from Arabic al-kimiya', from al the + kimiya' ~, from Late Greek chemeia  Date: 14th century  1. a medieval chemical science and speculative philosophy aiming to achieve the transmutation of the base metals into gold, the discovery of a universal cure for disease, and the discovery of a means of indefinitely prolonging life  2. a power or process of transforming something common into something special  3. an inexplicable or mysterious transmuting  • alchemical also alchemic adjective  • alchemically adverb