nitrite Chem.
(ˈnaɪtraɪt)
[f. nitre n. + -ite1 4.]
A compound produced by the combination of a base or an alcohol with nitrous acid.
| 1800 tr. Lagrange's Chem. I. 129 This is the reason why chemists do not make nitrites, but only nitrates, with fixed alkalies and nitrous vapour. 1807 T. Thomson Chem. (ed. 3) II. 224 Nitrous acid can exist only combined with a base. The genus of salts which it forms are called nitrites. 1847 Chem. Gaz. V. 76 An aqueous solution of nitrite of ammonia is decomposed by heat into nitrogen and water. 1871 Tyndall Frag. Sci. (1879) I. iv. 113 Dry air was permitted to bubble through the liquid nitrite of butyl. |
| attrib. 1896 Allbutt's Syst. Med. I. 892 Emmerich..explained cholera as a nitrite intoxication. |