Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Pavement made of layers of compacted broken stone, now usually bound with tar or asphalt.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Macadamized pavement.
- n. The material used for a macadam pavement.
Wiktionary
- n. uncountable The surface of a road consisting of layers of crushed stone (usually tar-coated for modern traffic).
- n. US, dated, countable Any road or street
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The broken stone used in macadamized roadways.
- n. A paved surface formed of compressed layers of broken rocks held together with tar.
- adj. paved with macadam{2}.
WordNet 3.0
- n. broken stone used in macadamized roadways
- n. a paved surface having compressed layers of broken rocks held together with tar
Etymologies
- Named after John Loudon McAdam, who invented the process of macadamization. Used for describing road surfaces originally constructed using the McAdam method, but now sometimes used for any road or street. (Wiktionary)
- After John Loudon McAdam (1756-1836), Scottish civil engineer. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“To give you a feel for how long ago this was the main beneficiaries of the macadam were the new fangled bicycle-men.”
“The splendid kunkah is now gradually giving place to ordinary macadam, which is far less desirable, the heavy, pelting rain washing away the clay and leaving the surface rough.”
Around the World on a Bicycle - Volume II From Teheran To Yokohama
“John McAdam designed the first modern highway of inexpensive paving material of soil and stone aggregate known as macadam during the Industrial Revolution.”
“All was wild and solitary, and one might have declared it a scene untrodden by the foot of man, but for the telegraph posts and small piles of broken "macadam" at punctual intervals, and the ginger-beer bottles and paper bags of local confectioners that lent an air of civilisation to the road.”
“It was the first major road in the nation to employ the new system of "macadam" surface - a mixture of broken rock and tar.”
“macadam" (a singular dish of rice stewed with salt fish -- _diri épi coubouyon lamori_), akras, etc.; but her bouts probably bring her the largest profit -- they are all bought up by the békés.”
“A late-seventies model Ford Bronco sprawled like a brown dinosaur on the fresh macadam.”
“The maples, macadam, shadows, houses, cars were to his violated eyes as brilliant as a scene remembered: he became a child again in this town, where life was a distant adventure, a rumor, an always imminent joy.”
“Others, of course, still require a smooth macadam surface.”
The Washington Post: Washington D.C. weather in the year 2076, part II
“It is no wonder we modern Americans don't sense moccasin trails under the macadam -- most traces of indigenous peoples are literally paved over.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘macadam’.
-
WF - nominal compounds (concrete)
foodstuff, banknote, crankshaft, earphone, fibreboard, fishplate, forklift, glassware, guardrail, handicraft, headband, kitchenware and 181 more...
-
IMCO - EU nomenclature
includes words of the "Prodcom list"
veal, valve, used, yak, wax, wan, teak, vat, vas, strip, use, strap and 4515 more...
-
genericized trademarks
Trademarked names that people use to refer to the thing in general, regardless of maker.
xerox, saran wrap, play-doh, silly putty, jell-o, crapper, band-aid, sharpie, biro, bic, zippo, thermos and 81 more...
-
slumry's Words
cattywampus, ingratiate, lackadaisical, exactitude, exfoliate, fulminate, circumnavigation, circuitous, debride, sidle, sequester, chicory and 1002 more...
-
Vocabulary
Words I come across while reading.
talus, echelon, onanistic, cabochon, avocation, charnel, moue, portentous, prolixity, astringent, hoary, patina and 165 more...
-
Favorite Tangible Object Words
Trimming the "Chained Bear's Favorites" list so I don't crash people's computers... like my own...
castanets, whaup, budgie, wallabies, ring-wraith, hobbit, chinchilla, guano, merganser, phalarope, phalarope, curlew and 138 more...
-
Stumbled Words
A list of words that I stumbled upon while reading.
penumbra, prolix, propitious, resplendence, sepulchral, Weltschmerz, apparition, brigand, probity, chalice, paroxysm, pallor and 160 more...
-
Just 'cause I like 'em, M
metamerism, malady, margin, marauder, maverick, mercury, mirth, mandible, macerate, meteor, manumission, mica and 292 more...
-
Vocab++
Words as I learn them.
fetid, mezzanine, hiatus, austerity, subliminal, resplendent, implacable, impugn, debase, exiguous, cirque, holster and 2538 more...
-
lanklenmot's Words
ineluctable, prelapsarian, bien pensant, prospero, preternatural, gratifying, iconoclast, cineast, persnickety, tumescent, galvanize, pap and 887 more...
-
the road
glaucoma, tarpaulin, flowstone, flue, rimstone, alabaster, gully, shoring, grike, riprap, windfall, transom and 120 more...
-
learning
A list of words whose meanings I am learning, either because a) I don't know the meaning b) I know the meaning, but could stand to better appreciate certain inflections or secondary meanings or c) ...
louche, educe, loam, cob, sclerotic, palliate, axial, syndicalist, ecumenical, sally, fatuous, parvenu and 1381 more...
-
jameslong's Words
tergiversate, ossify, syncretic, agenbite, enwit, doxy, borborygm, pulchritudinous, oxters, fervid, banal, asinine and 102 more...
-
Monovocalics
Words that have only one of the vowels. On this list I include only words with at least three vowels. When I first started the list, if a word had several forms, I generally listed only the one wit...
syzygy, mirific, cumulus, homolog, monocot, bedewed, jezebel, referee, bikini, minikin, locomotor, terebenthene and 2359 more...
-
fitting words
a list of words from the indo european root ar- and variations : to fit together
ambry, rede, coarctate, anarthrous, artiodactyl, exordium, harmony, army, armoire, arm, armada, armadillo and 349 more...
-
gorgonglare's list
the best
zeppelin, ion, laconic, serendipity, cataract, saturnine, syzygy, cinnabar, bistro, lithium, paroxysm, scion and 694 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for macadam.
Casey "Eddie started pushing Susannah along the smooth macadam of the parking lot again, pointing to cars as they passed them." From Wizard and Glass by Stephen King. Jan 19, 2011
chained_bear Cool, reesetee! I wasn't dreaming, there really was a guy named McAdam who paved roads. Whew! Feb 16, 2007
reesetee I think his family came to NY from Scotland. He lived mid-18th to mid-19th centuries. His family was apparently involved in the Revolutionary War.
Here's some info I dug up quickly: www.maybole.org/Notables/johnloudonmcadamhistory.htm
Wikipedia's entry for macadam says: "While macadam roads have now been resurfaced in most developed countries, some are preserved along stretches of roads such as the United States' National Road. Due to uses of macadam as a road surface in former times, roads in some parts of the United States (e.g., parts of Pennsylvania) are often referred to as macadam, even though they might be made of asphalt or concrete."
Seems to explain the Pennsylvania link to the word. Feb 15, 2007
chained_bear Well, that would certainly make sense with the idea that it's a regionally known term in Pennsylvania. Was Mr. MacAdam (or was it Macadam?) a Scots immigrant to Pennsylvania, by any chance? I'm thinking late eighteenth, early nineteenth century at the latest, based on nothing but my vague memory... Feb 15, 2007
uselessness For what it's worth, I've never heard of this. My family speaks Michiganese, and I grew up in Florida. I now live in New Mexico. Haven't heard the word in any of those contexts. Feb 13, 2007
reesetee I've encountered that too--people who aren't from the same region not knowing this word. I'd always assumed it was more or less universal, but I've also heard it's a regional (PA) thing.
There was a John McAdam--Scottish engineer, I believe. He invented a means to create roads that were smoother than those made of earth and called the process macadamisation. At first, it didn't include tar, but it was later added to keep dust down--and that is apparently where the word tarmac came from as well.
Interesting! Feb 13, 2007
chained_bear I prefer to say this over "asphalt," or the even less desirable "blacktop," but apparently "macadam" is a regionalism and not many other people seem to know what I'm talking about.
I remember learning years ago that it was a man named John MacAdam who invented the kind of paving we call asphalt. I don't know if that's true or one of those weird little memories I dredge up when I see this word. Feb 13, 2007