Nitre

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Niter \Ni"ter\, Nitre \Ni"tre\, n. [F. nitre, L. nitrum native
     soda, natron, Gr. ?; cf. Ar. nit[=u]n, natr[=u]n natron. Cf.
     {Natron}.]
     1. (Chem.) A white crystalline semitransparent salt;
        potassium nitrate; saltpeter. See {Saltpeter}.
        [1913 Webster]


  
     2. (Chem.) Native sodium carbonate; natron. [Obs.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
              For though thou wash thee with niter, and take thee
              much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me.
                                                    --Jer. ii. 22.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Cubic niter}, a deliquescent salt, sodium nitrate, found as
        a native incrustation, like niter, in Peru and Chile,
        whence it is known also as {Chile saltpeter}.
  
     {Niter bush} (Bot.), a genus ({Nitraria}) of thorny shrubs
        bearing edible berries, and growing in the saline plains
        of Asia and Northern Africa.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Nitre \Ni"tre\, n. (Chem.)
     See {Niter}.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  nitre
       n : (KNO3) used especially as a fertilizer and explosive [syn: {potassium
           nitrate}, {saltpeter}, {saltpetre}, {niter}]

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Nitre
     (Prov. 25:20; R.V. marg., "soda"), properly "natron," a
     substance so called because, rising from the bottom of the Lake
     Natron in Egypt, it becomes dry and hard in the sun, and is the
     soda which effervesces when vinegar is poured on it. It is a
     carbonate of soda, not saltpetre, which the word generally
     denotes (Jer. 2:22; R.V. "lye").