Library / English Dictionary

ASPHALT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A dark bituminous substance found in natural beds and as residue from petroleum distillation; consists mainly of hydrocarbons

Synonyms:

asphalt; mineral pitch

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("asphalt" is a kind of...):

mineral (solid homogeneous inorganic substances occurring in nature having a definite chemical composition)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Mixed asphalt and crushed gravel or sand; used especially for paving but also for roofing

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("asphalt" is a kind of...):

pavement; paving; paving material (material used to pave an area)

Derivation:

asphalt (cover with tar or asphalt)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cover with tar or asphalt

Example:

asphalt the driveway

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "asphalt" is one way to...):

pave (cover with a material such as stone or concrete to make suitable for vehicle traffic)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

asphalt (mixed asphalt and crushed gravel or sand; used especially for paving but also for roofing)

Credits

 Context examples: 

As this plateau is, in its very nature, highly volcanic, and as asphalt is a substance which one associates with Plutonic forces, I cannot doubt that it exists in the free liquid state, and that the creatures may have come in contact with it.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The first PMD prototype, which interacts with these asphalt codes, was successfully presented at the 8th European Asphalt Technology Association (EATA) Conference in Granada (3–5 June 2019).

(Scientists design “smart” asphalts with magnetic materials for safer electric scooters, University of Granada)

Once in a grove we observed several of these great creatures grazing, and Lord John, with his glass, was able to report that they also were spotted with asphalt, though in a different place to the one which we had examined in the morning.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

These codes beneath the asphalt send real-time information to the PMD, indicating the necessary reduction in speed, in accordance with the zone the user is crossing at the time (or triggering motor/engine shutdown in some cases), for example.

(Scientists design “smart” asphalts with magnetic materials for safer electric scooters, University of Granada)

Blackened rocks and mounds of lava I had already seen everywhere peeping out from amid the luxuriant vegetation which draped them, but this asphalt pool in the jungle was the first sign that we had of actual existing activity on the slopes of the ancient crater.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Like the others, it had a daub of asphalt upon its shoulder, and it was only when we saw one of the natives step forward with the air of an owner and give his consent to the beast's slaughter that we understood at last that these great creatures were as much private property as a herd of cattle, and that these symbols which had so perplexed us were nothing more than the marks of the owner.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)