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Webster 1913 Edition
Bittern
Bit′tern
,Noun.
[OE.
bitoure
, betore
, bitter
, fr. F. butor
; of unknown origin.] (Zool.)
A wading bird of the genus
Botaurus
, allied to the herons, of various species. ☞ The common European bittern is
Botaurus stellaris
. It makes, during the brooding season, a noise called by Dryden bumping, and by Goldsmith booming. The American bittern is Botaurus lentiginosus
, and is also called stake-driver
and meadow hen
. See Stake-driver
. The name is applied to other related birds, as the
least bittern
(Ardetta exilis
), and the sun bittern
. 1.
The brine which remains in salt works after the salt is concreted, having a bitter taste from the chloride of magnesium which it contains.
2.
A very bitter compound of quassia, cocculus Indicus, etc., used by fraudulent brewers in adulterating beer.
Cooley.
Webster 1828 Edition
Bittern
BIT'TERN
,Noun.
BIT'TERN
,Noun.
Definition 2024
bittern
bittern
English
Noun
bittern (plural bitterns)
- Several bird species in the Botaurinae subfamily of the heron family Ardeidae.
- 1819, Washington Irving, The Sketch Book, Rip Van Winkle:
- It is a great rock or cliff on the loneliest part of the mountains, and, … is known by the name of the Garden Rock. Near the foot of it is a small lake, the haunt of the solitary bittern, with water-snakes basking in the sun on the leaves of the pond-lilies which lie on the surface.
-
Derived terms
terms derived from bittern (bird)
Translations
bird of the subfamily Botaurinae
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See also
Etymology 2
From bitter with an unclear suffix, perhaps a dialect form of -ing.
Noun
bittern (uncountable)
- The liquor remaining after halite (common salt) has been harvested from saline water (brine).
- (archaic) A very bitter compound of quassia, cocculus indicus, etc., used by fraudulent brewers in adulterating beer.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Cooley to this entry?)