Niter /(?)/

Ni·ter

Niter

n.
  1. A white crystalline semitransparent salt; potassium nitrate; saltpeter. See Saltpeter. (Chem.)
  2. Native sodium carbonate; natron. (Chem.) [Obs.]
    For though thou wash thee with niter, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me.
    — Jer. ii. 22.

Phrases & Compounds

Cubic niter
a deliquescent salt, sodium nitrate, found as a native incrustation, like niter, in Peru and Chile, whence it is known also as Chile saltpeter.
Niter bush
a genus (Nitraria) of thorny shrubs bearing edible berries, and growing in the saline plains of Asia and Northern Africa.