creosote
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.
to treat with creosote.
Origin of creosote
1Other 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-ScienceThe company says this produces wood that ignites easier and burns cleaner, with less creosote and ash.
Acres: 317 Population: 10,000 Toxic chemicals: 70 History: Another creosote victim.
For three decades up to 1971 the Koppers Co.—now Beazer East—used creosote and PCPs to treat telephone poles.
Ponds, wetlands, groundwater and soil in and around the site were contaminated through the years with chemicals found in creosote.
The EPA removed 200 tons of creosote-contaminated soil from the site in February 1999.
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 KempA small quantity of the creosote passed over the surface of these with a feather, immediately removes the fetid odours.
History of Embalming | J. N. GannalSome collectors, with indifferent olfactory sense, moisten the cork of their boxes with creosote.
Directions for Collecting and Preserving Insects | C. V. RileyIn fact, various forms of creosote are best-known preservers of organic matter.
Shelters, Shacks and Shanties | D.C. BeardIf 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
/ (ˈkrɪəˌsəʊt) /
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
to treat (wood) with creosote
Origin of creosote
1Derived 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
[ 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.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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