bitterns

Noun (1)

bittern (plural bitterns)

1. Several bird species in the Botaurinae subfamily of the heron family Ardeidae.
   • 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.1819, Washington Irving, The Sketch Book, Rip Van Winkle

Noun (2)

bittern (countable and uncountable, plural bitterns)

1. The liquor remaining after halite (common salt) has been harvested from saline water (brine).
2. The saline substance added to soy milk to coagulate it as a primary step in the production of tofu.
   • Now we add the bittern.2019, “The Secrets of Tofu across Japan”, in Seasoning the Seasons, NHK World-Japan
3. (archaic) A very bitter compound of quassia, cocculus indicus, etc., used by fraudulent brewers in adulterating beer.

See all 5 meanings of bittern