Recent Examples on the WebThe smell of wet asphalt, the weeds growing on the shore, the wounds on the gums, the old songs, the figs, the sweat, the saltpeter and the silences will be the ingredients of the ointment that will cure the illness.—Zac Ntim, Deadline, 25 Sep. 2024 Chinese alchemists, trying to make an elixir for immortality mixed together common kitchen seasonings at the time: saltpeter, charcoal and sulfur.—Linda McIntosh, San Diego Union-Tribune, 23 June 2023 For visitors who don’t like narrow passageways or are short on time, this DIY stroll through some of the park’s most famous limestone formations and passageways will take you past historic saltpeter mines, archeological sites, and the 19th-century tuberculosis ward.—Emily Pennington, Outside Online, 29 July 2022 Industrial saltpeter cauldrons were hoisted on pedestals like ornaments.—Margo Rabb, Smithsonian Magazine, 17 Feb. 2023 At the time of its inception, the monks believed the most effective chemical formula to be one part sulfur, three parts charcoal and nine parts saltpeter.—Marisa Sloan, Discover Magazine, 12 Oct. 2022 The layers of history at this site in the Fort Payne area include Cherokee inscriptions, Civil War saltpeter mining and use as a tourist attraction prior to 1979.—al, 22 June 2022 The medieval gunpowder recipes were generally lower in saltpeter and higher in sulfur than modern ones.—Eric Niiler, Wired, 29 Sep. 2021 The sulfur and carbon (typically in the form of charcoal) act as fuels whereas the saltpeter provides a rush of oxygen to ignite the extremely fast chemical reaction known as explosive combustion.—The New York Times, Arkansas Online, 10 Oct. 2021
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'saltpeter.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Middle English salt petre, alteration of salpetre, from Medieval Latin sal petrae, literally, salt of the rock
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