creosote

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“
It is different than the more commonly known coal tar creosote, which is made of petrochemicals and is the world's most widely used wood preservative, applied to power poles, railroad ties and bridge timbers.

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Definitions (10)

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  1. noun A colorless to yellowish oily liquid containing phenols and creosols, 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.
  2. noun A yellowish to greenish-brown oily liquid containing phenols and creosols, obtained from coal tar and used as a wood preservative and disinfectant. It can cause severe neurological disturbances if inhaled in strong concentrations.
  3. transitive verb To treat or paint with creosote.

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Examples (50)

  • In Liminal Time, nothing is born and nothing dies Quite understandably, only deities ever existed in this immortality Until now Allan Blayne: Both Vehicles One and Two burst into flame, igniting the cargo of adjacent railroad cars as well as the creosote-treated ties of the track bed.
  • The door that opened into this dismal recess glistened with condensed creosote, and Harriet trembled as she listened to an awful rumbling within, followed by crackling reverberations. —  The Girlhood of Harriet Beecher Stowe
  • On top of this, 90 percent less smoke means 90 percent less creosote -- a flammable waste substance that accumulates in stove flues. —  American Chronicle
  • 'Burning soft woods and creating too much creosote is an old wives' tale ' —  Charlottesville Blogs
  • -- "Then we fed both groups creosote, and that allowed us to identify these 24 detoxification genes" that were activated more in the Mojave woodrats than in their Great Basin relatives, Dearing says. —  EurekAlert! - Breaking News
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Etymologies (1)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. German Kreosot : Greek kreas, flesh; see kreuə- in Indo-European roots + Greek sōtēr, preserver (from sōzein, to save; see teuə- in Indo-European roots).
 

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/ˈkrioʊkˈ, kriəsoʊt/
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