Hypertext Webster Gateway: "nitre"
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").
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Niter \Ni"ter\, Nitre \Ni"tre\, n. [F. nitre, L. nitrum native
soda, natron, Gr. ?; cf. Ar. nit?n, natr?n natron. Cf.
{Natron}.]
1. (Chem.) A white crystalline semitransparent salt;
potassium nitrate; saltpeter. See {Saltpeter}.
2. (Chem.) Native sodium carbonate; natron. [Obs.]
For though thou wash thee with niter, and take thee
much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me.
--Jer. ii. 22.
{Cubic niter}, a deliquescent salt, sodium nitrate, found as
a native incrustation, like niter, in Peru and Chili,
whence it is known also as {Chili saltpeter}.
{Niter bush} (Bot.), a genus ({Nitraria}) of thorny shrubs
bearing edible berries, and growing in the saline plains
of Asia and Northern Africa.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Nitre \Ni"tre\, n. (Chem.)
See {Niter}.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
nitre
n : (KNO3) used especially as a fertilizer and explosive [syn: {potassium
nitrate}, {saltpeter}, {saltpetre}, {niter}]
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