varec noun2 •(no longer used) The incinerated ash of certain coarse seaweeds, formerly used for the production of soda and iodine, among other compounds.Potash was scarce because of the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815), and Bernard Courtois had resorted to varec imported from the Brittany and Normandy seacoasts [5]. — 2015 •(no longer used) The seaweed itself; generally species of fucus or wrack.
