Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In salt-works, the brine remaining after the salt is concreted.
- noun A very bitter compound of quassia, cocculus indicus, licorice, tobacco, etc., used for adulterating beer. Also called
bittering . - noun A European wading bird, of the family Ardeidæ and subfamily Botaurinæ; the Botaurus stellaris, a kind of heron.
- noun Any heron of the subfamily Botaurinæ.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Zoöl.) A wading bird of the genus Botaurus, allied to the herons, of various species.
- noun The brine which remains in salt works after the salt is concreted, having a bitter taste from the chloride of magnesium which it contains.
- noun A very bitter compound of quassia, cocculus Indicus, etc., used by fraudulent brewers in adulterating beer.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The liquor remaining after
halite (commonsalt ) has been harvested from saline water (brine ). - noun archaic A very
bitter compound ofquassia ,cocculus indicus , etc., used byfraudulent brewers inadulterating beer . - noun Several
bird species in theheron familyArdeidae . - noun One species tending to have a relatively short neck in comparison with the other members of the family.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun relatively small compact tawny-brown heron with nocturnal habits and a booming cry; found in marshes
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The bittern is a secretive bird and its subtle colouring makes it hard to spot in its wetland surroundings – although its mating call, which can be heard several miles away, testifies to its presence.
Bitterns: the endangered birds whose population is booming at last 2012
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Of the bittern, which is said to boom continually over the Friesland meres,
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In bird terms, the bittern is the conservation success of the decade.
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The bittern is a further wading bird; its cry is usually described as a "boom," and the first part of its name, from Latin butio, represents this.
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As this mixture of substances naturally suggested the composition of the "mother liquors" from salt brines, Mr. Price made an analysis of such a sample of "bittern" from the Snow Hill furnace, Kanawha Co.,
Scientific American Supplement, No. 643, April 28, 1888 Various
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It is manufactured from the magnesium bromide contained in "bittern" (the mother liquor of the salt industry), by two processes, the continuous and the periodic.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 3 "Brescia" to "Bulgaria" Various
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"bittern" or "mother liquid," contains chiefly a concentration of the salts of magnesium and potassium.
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Here is a curious item ” "In the month of June 1792 a chicken, 7s.; an Indian [a kind of bittern found in North America] 9s.; a dozen larks, 1 coron [? crown].
Joseph Haydn Hadden, J Cuthbert 1902
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The loss of further reed beds led to the bittern declining once more.
Bittern in booming good health in England's quarries and wetlands 2011
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The bittern was common in western and central Europe until the 19th century.
Bittern in booming good health in England's quarries and wetlands 2011
oroboros commented on the word bittern
A bitter biting bittern bit a better biting bittern,
And the better bitten bittern bit the bitter biter back;
Said the bitter biting bittern to the better bitten bittern,
"I'm a bitter biting bittern bitten back."
--Tongue Twisters and Tricky Tanglers by Duncan Emrich
September 11, 2007
reesetee commented on the word bittern
See thunder-pumper.
December 19, 2007
jaime_d commented on the word bittern
from Thoreau's A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers
also from from Thomas Carlyle's The French Revolution
July 19, 2009
hernesheir commented on the word bittern
See bull-of-the-bog.
May 10, 2011
hernesheir commented on the word bittern
Scottish blakwak.
May 13, 2011
hernesheir commented on the word bittern
Scottish bog-blutter, bog-bumper, mire-bumper, bewter.
May 13, 2011