creosote
[kree-uh-soht]
- 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.
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- 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)
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for creosote
Contemporary Examples
Ponds, wetlands, groundwater and soil in and around the site were contaminated through the years with chemicals found in creosote.
Historical Examples
And we was loaded with cement and creosote, and the creosote got loose.
The Mutiny of the ElsinoreJack London
A pump rattled under it, and the smell of creosote was everywhere.
The Cattle-Baron's DaughterHarold Bindloss
Creosote can be procured in large or small quantities from a number of concerns.
Shelters, Shacks and ShantiesD.C. Beard
Creosote will keep them off, but the remedy is as bad as the disease.
There is no deception about it: it tastes of tannin and spruce and creosote.
In the WildernessCharles Dudley Warner
creosote
- 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
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- to treat (wood) with creosote
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Word Origin
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
Word Origin and History for creosote
n.
1835, from German Kreosot, coined 1832 by its discoverer, German-born natural philosopher Carl Ludwig, Baron Reichenbach (1788-1869), from Greek kreo-, comb. form of kreas "flesh" (see raw) + soter "preserver," from soizein "save, preserve." So called because it was used as an antiseptic.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
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