creosote

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. 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. n. 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. v. To treat or paint with creosote.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A substance first prepared from wood-tar, from which it is separated by repeated solution in potash, treatment with acids, and distillation. It is also obtained from crude pyroligneous acid. In a pure state it is oily, heavy, colorless, refracts light powerfully, and has a sweetish, burning taste, and a strong smell as of peat-smoke or smoked meat. It is so powerful an antiseptic that meat will not putrefy after being plunged into a solution of one per cent. of creosote. Wood treated with it is not subject to dry-rot or other decay. It has been used in surgery and medicine as an antiseptic with great success, but it is now almost superseded by the cheaper and equally efficient carbolic acid. It is often added to whisky, to give it the peat-reek flavor. Also written kreosote, kreasote.
2. To apply creosote or a solution of creosote to; treat with creosote: as, to creosote wood to prevent its decay.

Wiktionary

1. n. A pale yellow oily liquid, containing phenols and similar compounds, obtained by the destructive distillation of wood tar, once used medicinally.
2. n. A similar brown liquid obtained from coal tar used as a wood preservative.
3. n. uncountable The creosote bush.
4. v. To apply creosote.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Chem.) Wood-tar oil; an oily antiseptic liquid, of a burning smoky taste, colorless when pure, but usually colored yellow or brown by impurity or exposure. It is a complex mixture of various phenols and their ethers, and is obtained by the distillation of wood tar, especially that of beechwood.
2. v. To saturate or impregnate with creosote, as timber, for the prevention of decay.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. treat with creosote
2. n. a dark oily liquid obtained by distillation of coal tar; used as a preservative for wood
3. n. a colorless or yellowish oily liquid obtained by distillation of wood tar; used as an antiseptic