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)

Related formscre·o·sot·ic

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for creosote

Contemporary Examples of creosote

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

Historical Examples of creosote

And we was loaded with cement and creosote, and the creosote got loose.
The Mutiny of the Elsinore
Jack London
A pump rattled under it, and the smell of creosote was everywhere.
The Cattle-Baron's Daughter
Harold Bindloss
Creosote can be procured in large or small quantities from a number of concerns.
Shelters, Shacks and Shanties
D.C. Beard
Creosote will keep them off, but the remedy is as bad as the disease.
Harper's Young People, January 6, 1880
Various
There is no deception about it: it tastes of tannin and spruce and creosote.
In the Wilderness
Charles Dudley Warner

British Dictionary definitions for creosote

creosote

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 Formscreosotic (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

Word Origin and History for creosote

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.

creosote in Science

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.