brine

Etymology

From Middle English brine, bryne, from Old English brīne, 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 (bṛṇā́ti, “they injure, hurt”). Alternatively, from Proto-Indo-European *mriHnós, from *móri (compare Latin marīnus).

noun

1. Salt water; water saturated or strongly impregnated with salt; a salt-and-water solution for pickling.
   Do you want a can of tuna in oil or in brine?
   Philander went into the next room[…]and came back with a salt mackerel that dripped brine like a rainstorm. Then he put the coffee pot on the stove and rummaged out a loaf of dry bread and some hardtack. 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 8, in Mr. Pratt's Patients
2. The sea or ocean; the water of the sea.
   "Ho, aboard the Salt Junk Sarah, Rollin" home across the line, The Bo'sun collared the Captain's hat And threw it in the brine. 1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 52

verb

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