Contextualizebeta

asphalt

noun
/ˈæʃfɑlt/CA/ˈæʃfɔlt//ˈæsfælt/UK/ˈæsfɔlt/US

Etymology

From Late Latin asphaltum, from Ancient Greek ἄσφαλτος (ásphaltos, “asphalt, bitumen”). Displaced native Old English eorþteoru.

  1. derived from ἄσφαλτος — “asphalt, bitumen”
  2. derived from asphaltum

Definitions

  1. A sticky, black to brown and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid, composed almost…

    A sticky, black to brown and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid, composed almost entirely of bitumen with small mineral particles, that is present in most crude petroleums and in some natural deposits.

    • The mining of asphalt was big business in this area in the early twentieth century.
    • Felltham wrote in the beginning of the 17th century of the “Bitumated walls of Babylon;” the source of its supply, the fountains of Is, on a tributary of the Euphrates, still yields asphalt.

  2. Ellipsis of asphalt concrete, a hard ground covering used for roads and walkways.

    • Near-synonyms: tarmac, tarmacadam, blacktop, bitumen
    • Please hose off the asphalt near the top of the driveway if the trucks get lots of mud on it.
    • Between the grey mist of rainclouds the sun suddenly appeared to mottle the wet asphalt of Marble Arch in patches of silver and ebony.

  3. To pave with asphalt.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at asphalt. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01asphalt02pave03paving04sidewalk05road

A definitional loop anchored at asphalt. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

5 hops · closes at asphalt

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA