† sal-nitre Obs.
[ad. med.L. sal nitrī ‘salt of nitre’: see sal and nitre. Cf. It. salnitro, Pr. salnitre; also Sp., Pg. salitre (whence salitre), G. salniter, saliter.]
Saltpetre.
| 1416 in Essex Rev. (1907) XVI. 159 Sal niter. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 420, I may not put off the treatise concerning the nature of Salnitre, approching so neer as it doth to the nature of salt. 1610 Markham Masterp. ii. cxlv. 447 Adde to it of Sal-niter an ounce. 1683 Salmon Doron Med. i. 320 Subliming it with Sal Niter. |
Hence † salˈnitral a., of the nature of saltpetre.
| 1683 Tryon Way to Health vi. (1697) 104 Until the Sun and Cœlestial Influences have endu'd it [sc. earth] with a Salnitral Vertue. |