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.