brine

Meanings

Noun

• Salt water; water saturated or strongly impregnated with salt; a salt-and-water solution for pickling.
• The sea or ocean; the water of the sea.

Verb

• To preserve food in a salt solution.
• To prepare and flavor food (especially meat) for cooking by soaking in a salt solution.

Related

Opposite words

• debrine
• desalinate

Origin

• From Middle English brine, bryne, from Old English brīne, brȳne, from Proto-Germanic *brīnijaz, *brīnaz (compare Scots brime, West Frisian brein, Dutch brijn ("brine"), West Flemish brijne), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreyH- ("to cut, maim"). Cognates include Old Irish ro·bria ("may hurt, damage"), Latin friāre ("to rub, crumble"), Slovene bríti ("to shave, shear"), Albanian brej ("to gnaw"), Sanskrit बृणाति ("they injure, hurt").
• Alternatively, from Proto-Indo-European *mriHnós, from *móri (compare Latin marīnus).