brine

American  

[brahyn] / braɪn /

noun

• brines
  plural

1. water saturated or strongly impregnated with salt.

2. a salt and water solution for pickling.

3. the sea or ocean.

4. the water of the sea.

5. Chemistry. any saline solution.

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verb (used with object)

• brines,
  present (3rd person singular)
• brined,
  past participle,  past
• brining
  present participle

1. to treat with or steep in brine.

brine British  

/ braɪn /

noun

1. a strong solution of salt and water, used for salting and pickling meats, etc

2. the sea or its water

3. chem

   1. a concentrated solution of sodium chloride in water

   2. any solution of a salt in water

      a potassium chloride brine

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verb

1. (tr) to soak in or treat with brine

brine Scientific  

/ brīn /

1. Water saturated with or containing large amounts of a salt, especially sodium chloride. The high salt content is usually due to evaporation or freezing.

2. The water of a sea or ocean.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• briner
  noun
• brinishness
  noun
• brineless
  adjective
• brinish
  adjective
• unbrined
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• brines
  plural

Participles

• brining
  present
• brined
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• brine
  simple
• brines
  simple
• have brined
  perfect
• has brined
  perfect
• am brining
  progressive
• are brining
  progressive
• is brining
  progressive
• have been brining
  perfect progressive
• has been brining
  perfect progressive

Past

• brined
  simple
• had brined
  perfect
• was brining
  progressive
• were brining
  progressive
• had been brining
  perfect progressive

Future

• will brine
  simple
• will have brined
  perfect
• will be brining
  progressive
• will have been brining
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of brine

First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English brȳne; cognate with Dutch brijn

Explanation

Water that contains salt is called brine. You can always tell when you are close to the ocean, because you can smell the brine and hear the sea gulls. Brine is also a salty solution used to pickle or preserve foods. If you want to make pickles, you have to soak cucumbers in brine for several days or even weeks before canning them. As a verb, brine means to soak in a salty solution. If you live in the southern United States, you might brine watermelon rind and okra, which may sound strange to someone from Michigan's Upper Peninsula who's more familiar with brining eggs.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

brine brines brined brining

Savory cocktails have become de rigueur in recent years, and if we’re willing to sip olive or oyster brine, why not try some broth in your drink?

From Slate ● Aug. 10, 2026

"We do not know if these magnesium organic compounds were contributed by brine chemistry or were simply left over from earlier impact shock processes."

From Science Daily ● Aug. 8, 2026

Controlled Thermal Resources wants to extract lithium from hot brine that will be used to power a geothermal electricity plant it plans to build.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026

The reserve has experienced 16 major equipment failures since 2013, including of raw water and brine disposal piping.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026

Like hot seaweed and dead fish and brine.

From "The Titan's Curse" by Rick Riordan

Highly concentrated brines can keep phosphate dissolved in solution and can promote chemical reactions involving organic compounds and minerals that precipitate from solution.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 8, 2026

The method uses a temperature responsive solvent to pull lithium directly from salty underground brines, even when lithium concentrations are low or mixed with other minerals that are difficult to separate.

From Science Daily ● May 23, 2026

Rio Tinto aims to reach roughly 200,000 metric tons of capacity by 2028 and reduce C1 costs from its brines assets to less than US$5-US$8/kilogram.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 9, 2025

He continues: “Here is my super complicated thought process for this dish: pickle brines require salt, sugar, and vinegar.”

From Salon ● Mar. 19, 2025

The use of certain chemical preservatives such as strong sugar and salt solutions, saltpeter brines, and acid pickles has long been known and countenanced.

From Food Poisoning by Edwin Oakes Jordan

The chicken is brought in whole before being butchered and brined in-house.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026

Eaton uses a carefully sourced heritage breed bird that’s brined, deboned and served in butter for $35.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026

And then there are the newer versions — birds brined in buttermilk or their skins lacquered to glossy, bronzed perfection.

From Salon ● May 9, 2025

After Kim purchased an unglazed onggi from his hometown on Jeju Island, South Korea, he and Hu measured carbon dioxide levels as brined cabbage fermented in both the onggi and a tightly sealed glass jar.

From Scientific American ● May 16, 2023

There was roast duck and sweet, brined pork and tender, spiced lamb.

From "Huntress" by Malinda Lo

April is notorious for brining a mixed bag of unpredictable weather and this week has been a real example of that.

From BBC ● Apr. 26, 2026

The battery brining liquid is a hazardous waste product too and is trucked to another specialized facility, the agency said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 9, 2025

“We took him out of the game as soon as he was brining it up to the trainers and coaches,” Baldelli said.

From Washington Times ● Sep. 30, 2023

“I think I’m able to connect to a lot of different genres of people just me being who I am and brining my personality to the air,” he said.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 18, 2023

To be honest, there was another reason I chose the brining and grilling method.

From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan

Related Words

• marinade
• vinegar