Definition of "bistre" [bis•tre]

• Variant of bister. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Reddish-brown, marone, bistre with a golden light in it, suited her to perfection."
• "We're victims, we say: mere vessels, drinking the vanilla scent of this one's skin, the lustre of another's eyes so skilfully darkened with bistre."
• "Viewed from the harbour, it is a long line of buildings, whose painful whiteness is set off by a sky-like cobalt and a sea-like indigo; behind it lies the flat, here of a bistre-brown, there of a lively tawny; whilst the background is formed by dismal Radhwah,"