saltpetre

British  

/ ˌsɔːltˈpiːtə /

noun

1. another name for potassium nitrate

2. short for Chile saltpetre

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Etymology

Origin of saltpetre

C16: from Old French salpetre, from Latin sal petrae salt of rock

Example Sentences

To keep it from melting, the ice was treated with potassium nitrate, otherwise known as saltpetre.

From Salon • Dec. 31, 2020

In earlier centuries, bacon-makers who used saltpetre did not understand that it converts to nitrite as the meat cures.

From The Guardian • Mar. 1, 2018

But a decade later, the guano was already running out, and so attention shifted to another source of nitrogen close at hand - the saltpetre flats of the Atacama desert.

From BBC • Jun. 6, 2014

When Germany was denied access to Chile’s saltpetre during the First World War, the Haber–Bosch process gave it — and the world — an alternative, which it grasped with both hands.

From Nature • Sep. 4, 2013

The same takes place with saltpetre: when it changes from a liquid into solid figures, the heat leaves it.

From Fables for Children, Stories for Children, Natural Science Stories, Popular Education, Decembrists, Moral Tales by Tolstoy, Leo, graf