[kyoo-puh
l, kyoo-pel] 
noun, verb, -peled, -pel⋅ing or (especially British) -pelled, -pel⋅ling.| 1. | a small, cuplike, porous container, usually made of bone ash, used in assaying, as for separating gold and silver from lead. |
| 2. | a receptacle or furnace bottom in which silver is refined. |
| 3. | to heat or refine in a cupel. |
[kyoo-puh-ler] , cu⋅pel⋅ler [kyoo-pel-er] , noun | cu·pel·la·tion (kyōō'pə-lā'shən) n. A refining process for nonoxidizing metals, such as silver and gold, in which a metallic mixture is oxidized at high temperatures and base metals are separated by absorption into the walls of a cupel. |