caput mortuum
noun/ˈkæpət ˈmɔː(ɹ)tjʊəm/
Etymology Unadapted borrowing from Latin caput mortuum (literally “dead head”).
1
Alchemy, Pseudoscience Worthless residue of sublimation or distillation.
2
Cardinal purple, a variety of haematite iron oxide pigment.
- Were they working their way through the colours and now had reached the more abstruse layers of the spectrum? What would be next — caput mortuum, heliotrope? The colours of the day.2018, Kate Atkinson, Transcription, page 227:
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