creosote

[ kree-uh-soht ]

/ ˈkri əˌsoʊt /

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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.

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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/, adjectiveun·cre·o·sot·ed, adjective

Words nearby creosote

creolize, creolized, Creon, creophagous, creosol, creosote, creosote bush, crepe, crepe de Chine, crepe hair, crepehanger

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

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|DAILY BEAST
Acres: 317 Population: 10,000 Toxic chemicals: 70 History: Another creosote victim.
Our Most Polluted States|The Daily Beast|May 19, 2010|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|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|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|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

Derived forms of creosote

creosotic (ˌkrɪəˈsɒtɪk), adjective

Word Origin for creosote

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

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.