brine

[ brahyn ]
See synonyms for brine on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. water saturated or strongly impregnated with salt.

  2. a salt and water solution for pickling.

  1. the sea or ocean.

  2. the water of the sea.

  3. Chemistry. any saline solution.

verb (used with object),brined, brin·ing.
  1. to treat with or steep in brine.

Origin of brine

1
First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English brȳne; cognate with Dutch brijn

Other words from brine

  • brineless, adjective
  • briner, noun
  • brinish, adjective
  • brin·ish·ness, noun
  • un·brined, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use brine in a sentence

  • Some of the lakes of the Great Basin are dense brines from which various substances are being precipitated.

    North America | Israel C. Russell
  • They are reached by well borings, and their brines are evaporated by solar heat and by boiling.

    The Elements of Geology | William Harmon Norton
  • In order to purify the brines they are boiled in iron pans and treated in various ways to make them fit for table use.

    How We are Fed | James Franklin Chamberlain
  • When he reached the summit, Brines was struck with amazement on seeing the phial borne like a pimple on the nose of the mountain.

    Devil Stories | Various
  • Brines drew the cork out slightly, and a noxious vapour issued from the bottle and ascended to his brain.

    Devil Stories | Various

British Dictionary definitions for brine

brine

/ (braɪn) /


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

  2. the sea or its water

  1. chem

    • a concentrated solution of sodium chloride in water

    • any solution of a salt in water: a potassium chloride brine

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

Origin of brine

1
Old English brīne; related to Middle Dutch brīne, Old Slavonic bridŭ bitter, Sanskrit bibhrāya burnt

Derived forms of brine

  • brinish, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for brine

brine

[ 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.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.