Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The word niter (in its Hebrew, Greek, and Latin forms) was used in early times to signify any kind of saline efflorescence, and therefore included a number of substances now recognized as distinct. The ‘niter’ of the Old Testament scriptures was obviously natron in the sense of naturally occurring carbonate of soda (from Egypt). The ‘nitrum’ mentioned by Pliny, which gave off a strong smell on being sprinkled with lime, must have been a salt of ammonium, probably the chlorid; but potassium nitrate (the niter or saltpeter of the present age), and also calcium nitrate, potassium carbonate, sodium chlorid, magnesium sulphate, and the sulphates of zinc, iron, and copper (later distinguished as metallic vitriols) were probably more or less confounded under the general name.
- noun A salt (KNO3), also called
saltpeter , and in the nomenclature of chemistry potassium nitrate.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Chem.) A white crystalline semitransparent salt; potassium nitrate; saltpeter. See
saltpeter . - noun (Chem.), obsolete Native sodium carbonate; natron.
- noun a deliquescent salt, sodium nitrate, found as a native incrustation, like niter, in Peru and Chile, whence it is known also as
Chile saltpeter . - noun (Bot.) a genus (Nitraria) of thorny shrubs bearing edible berries, and growing in the saline plains of Asia and Northern Africa.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun US, chemistry A mineral form of
potassium nitrate used in makinggunpowder .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun (KNO3) used especially as a fertilizer and explosive
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word niter.
Examples
-
There's a stuff called sweet spirits of niter, which is, I think, used in kidney ailments.
-
I returned the wig because because of the TMI exposition slam Gawker ran about a one-niter O'Donnell had two years ago.
Susanna Speier: Mid Term Election Anxiety & Halloween Politiku Susanna Speier 2010
-
I returned the wig because because of the TMI exposition slam Gawker ran about a one-niter O'Donnell had two years ago.
Susanna Speier: Mid Term Election Anxiety & Halloween Politiku Susanna Speier 2010
-
I returned the wig because because of the TMI exposition slam Gawker ran about a one-niter O'Donnell had two years ago.
Susanna Speier: Mid Term Election Anxiety & Halloween Politiku Susanna Speier 2010
-
Meanwhile, Lincoln conducted the bloodiest war in U.S. history to preserve the Union, authorized the deployment of deadly new weaponry such as mines, ironclad warships and niter a 19th-century version of napalm, and accepted huge casualties for his chosen cause.
-
I returned the wig because because of the TMI exposition slam Gawker ran about a one-niter O'Donnell had two years ago.
Susanna Speier: Mid Term Election Anxiety & Halloween Politiku Susanna Speier 2010
-
Fenugreek, berbere, and niter kibbeh to satisfy the spice-loving community of Ethiopians that that moved into the neighborhood in the last several years.
-
Fenugreek, berbere, and niter kibbeh to satisfy the spice-loving community of Ethiopians that that moved into the neighborhood in the last several years.
June 2007 2007
-
Back during the campaign of 2000 ( "Ahma YOU-niter, notta DEE-vider") Don Imus told his listeners one morning:
-
This suggests that, while testing new glass formulas for different uses, he was also creating a personal program to study affinities of acids of sea salt, niter, and vitriol.
chained_bear commented on the word niter
Usage on mastick.
October 6, 2008