DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan

 Ni·ter, Ni·tre  n.
 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 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.
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 Salt·pe·ter, Salt·pe·tre, n.  Chem. Potassium nitrate; niter; a white crystalline substance, KNO3, having a cooling saline taste, obtained by leaching from certain soils in which it is produced by the process of nitrification (see Nitrification, 2). It is a strong oxidizer, is the chief constituent of gunpowder, and is also used as an antiseptic in curing meat, and in medicine as a diuretic, diaphoretic, and refrigerant.
 Chili salpeter Chem., sodium nitrate (distinguished from potassium nitrate, or true salpeter), a white crystalline substance, NaNO3, having a cooling, saline, slightly bitter taste. It is obtained by leaching the soil of the rainless districts of Chili and Peru. It is deliquescent and cannot be used in gunpowder, but is employed in the production of nitric acid. Called also cubic niter.
 Saltpeter acid Chem., nitric acid; -- sometimes so called because made from saltpeter.
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