Spirit
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Spirit. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
an immaterial intelligent substance or being; vital or active principle, essence, force, or energy, as distinct from matter; life or living substance considered apart from material or corporeal existence; as, the soul of man, as distinguished from the body wherein it dwells. Hence, a ghost; a specter; a supernatural apparition or manifestation; also, sometimes, an elf; a fay; a sprite. Also, real meaning; intent; in contradistinction to the letter or to formal statement; and characteristic quality, particularly such as is derived from the individual genius or the personal character; as, the spirit of the law. In c chemistry, a name generally applied to fluids, mostly of a lighter specific character than water, and obtained by distillation. Thus, the essential oil of turpentine is called spirit of turpentine. Essential oils dissolved in alcohol are called spirits, as spirit of aniseed, peppermint, etc., because formerly prepared by distilling the herbs with alcohol. The volatile alkali ammonia, distilled and condensed in cold alcohol, is called spirit of ammonia; even hydrochloric acid is often called spirit of salts. But in a stricter sense the term spirit is understood to mean alcohol in its potable condition, of which there are very numerous varieties deriving their special characters from the substances used in their production, as brandy, rum, whisky, gin, arrack, etc. In theology, the Spirit, or Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost; the Spirit of God, or the third person of the Trinity. The spirit also denotes the human spirit as animated by the Divine Spirit. Rectified spirit, proof spirit made pure by distillation.
The Encyclopedia of Founding (1892)
This name is usually given to fluids obtained by distillation, and that are lighter specifically than water. Essential oil of turpentine is called spirit of turpentine; and the spirits of peppermint, aniseed, etc., are thus denominated because their essential oils have been dissolved in alcohol. Hydrochloric acid is frequently called spirit of salts. In its strictest sense, however, alcohol is meant when the term spirit is employed. See ALCOHOL; DISTILLATION.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
What has moved most since these entries is the vocabulary rather than the subject. The old chemical names both encyclopedias treat as ordinary usage — "spirit of salts" for hydrochloric acid, spirit of ammonia, spirit of turpentine — have been driven out of laboratories and pharmacies by systematic chemical nomenclature, and survive today mainly on tins of white spirit and in antique bottle labels. Collier's confident definition of "rectified spirit, proof spirit made pure by distillation" also dates the entry: Britain abandoned the old proof scale in 1980 in favour of alcohol by volume, so a bottle now states 40% ABV rather than 70 degrees proof. And Collier's writing in 1921, at the peak of post-war spiritualism, could list "a ghost; a specter; a supernatural apparition" among the plain senses of the word without qualification, where a modern dictionary would flag the sense as belief rather than fact.
Written for this edition, 2026.