| 释义 |
saltpetre/sɔ:ltˈpi:tə, sɒ-/n. (US [美] saltpeter) potassium nitrate, a white crystalline salty substance used in preserving meat and as a constituent of gunpowder (用以保存肉或制火药的)硝石，钾硝，硝酸钾 [Middle English via Old French salpetre from medieval Latin salpetra, probably for sal petrae (unrecorded) ‘salt of rock’ (i.e. found as an incrustation): assimilated to SALT] |