creosote

[ kree-uh-soht ]

noun

an oily liquid having a burning taste and a penetrating odor, obtained by the distillation of coal and wood tar, used mainly as a preservative for wood and as an antiseptic.
coal-tar creosote.

verb (used with object),cre·o·sot·ed, cre·o·sot·ing.

to treat with creosote.

Origin of creosote

<German Kreosote (1832) <Greek kreo-, combining form of kréas flesh + sōtēr savior, preserver (in reference to its antiseptic properties)

Other words from creosote

cre·o·sot·ic [kree-uh-sot-ik], /ˌkri əˈsɒt ɪk/, adjective
un·cre·o·sot·ed, adjective

Words Nearby creosote

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use creosote in a sentence

If you have a wood-burning fireplace or stove, creosote can build up in your chimney.
Is your house safe? Use this checklist to find out. | Jean Feingold | September 7, 2021 | Popular-Science
The company says this produces wood that ignites easier and burns cleaner, with less creosote and ash.
Brooklyn’s Booming Firewood Industry | Dale Eisinger | July 8, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Acres: 317 Population: 10,000 Toxic chemicals: 70 History: Another creosote victim.
Our Most Polluted States | The Daily Beast | May 19, 2010 | THE DAILY BEAST
For three decades up to 1971 the Koppers Co.—now Beazer East—used creosote and PCPs to treat telephone poles.
Our Most Polluted States | The Daily Beast | May 19, 2010 | THE DAILY BEAST
Ponds, wetlands, groundwater and soil in and around the site were contaminated through the years with chemicals found in creosote.
Our Most Polluted States | The Daily Beast | May 19, 2010 | THE DAILY BEAST

The EPA removed 200 tons of creosote-contaminated soil from the site in February 1999.
Our Most Polluted States | The Daily Beast | May 19, 2010 | THE DAILY BEAST
And each day before breakfast we soaked the seams of our clothes in vile-smelling creosote to kill off the lice and nits.
Tramping on Life | Harry Kemp
A small quantity of the creosote passed over the surface of these with a feather, immediately removes the fetid odours.
History of Embalming | J. N. Gannal
Some collectors, with indifferent olfactory sense, moisten the cork of their boxes with creosote.
Directions for Collecting and Preserving Insects | C. V. Riley
In fact, various forms of creosote are best-known preservers of organic matter.
Shelters, Shacks and Shanties | D.C. Beard
If you have any doubt about it, know that the desert begins with the creosote.
The Land of Little Rain | Mary Austin

British Dictionary definitions for creosote

creosote

/ (ˈkrɪəˌsəʊt) /

noun

a colourless or pale yellow liquid mixture with a burning taste and penetrating odour distilled from wood tar, esp from beechwood, contains creosol and other phenols, and is used as an antiseptic
Also called: coal-tar creosote a thick dark liquid mixture prepared from coal tar, containing phenols: used as a preservative for wood

verb

to treat (wood) with creosote

Origin of creosote

C19: from Greek kreas flesh + sōtēr preserver, from sōzein to keep safe

Derived forms of creosote

creosotic (ˌkrɪəˈsɒtɪk), adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for creosote

creosote

[ krē′ə-sōt′ ]

A yellow or brown oily liquid obtained from coal tar and used as a wood preservative and disinfectant.
A colorless to yellowish oily liquid containing phenols, obtained by the destructive distillation of wood tar, especially from the wood of a beech, and formerly used as an expectorant in treating chronic bronchitis.

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