You searched for: “saltpetre
saltpeter, saltpetre (s) (noun); saltpeters, saltpetres (pl)
1. Potassium nitrate; used especially as a component of gunpowder or as a food preservative: The term satlpeter derives from the concept that it appears as a salt-like encrustation on rocks.
2. Etymology: Saltpeter is a borrowing of Old Middle English salpetre [about A.D. 1300]; a borrowing of Old French, salpetre, a learned borrowing from Medieval Latin; also borrowed directly from Medieval Latin sal petrae, "salt of rock"; from Latin sal, "salt" + petrae, genitive form of Latin petra, "rock".
This entry is located in the following units: petro-, petr-, petri-, peter- (page 5) sal-, sali- (page 3)