Definition of "saleratus" [sal•e•ra•tus]

• Sodium or potassium bicarbonate used as a leavening agent; baking soda. (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.

• "I found a new diversion today while Googling for "saleratus"--the nineteenth-century name for baking powder."
• ""I suppose you call saleratus bread and salt pork and flapjacks SIMPLE?" said the doctor, coolly; "they are COMMON enough, and if you were working with your muscles instead of your nerves in that frame of yours they might not hurt you; but you are suffering as much from eating more than you can digest as the veriest gourmand."
• ""Wouldn't it take the saleratus out your dough, now?" said Kink"