ASPHALT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does asphalt mean? 

• ASPHALT (noun)
  The noun ASPHALT has 2 senses:

1. mixed asphalt and crushed gravel or sand; used especially for paving but also for roofing

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

  Familiarity information: ASPHALT used as a noun is rare.

• ASPHALT (verb)
  The verb ASPHALT has 1 sense:

1. cover with tar or asphalt

  Familiarity information: ASPHALT used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ASPHALT (noun)

Sense 1

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)

Sense 2

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Synonyms:

asphalt; mineral pitch

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

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

• ASPHALT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they asphalt    ... he / she / it asphalts   
Past simple: asphalted   
Past participle: asphalted   
-ing form: asphalting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cover with tar or asphalt

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

asphalt the driveway

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)

 Context examples 

The researchers have also developed a prototype Personal Mobility Device (PMD) designed to interact with the smart asphalt.

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

It ended at the paving of asphalt which led up to the gates of the Mapleton stables.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

On the dull, scaly, slate-colored skin somewhere above the shoulder, there was a singular black circle of some substance which looked like asphalt.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has observed a planet outside our solar system that looks as black as fresh asphalt because it eats light rather than reflecting it back into space.

(Hubble Captures Blistering Pitch-Black Planet, NASA)

Indene[1,2,3-cd]pyrene is primarily found in certain foods, gasoline and diesel exhaust, cigarette smoke, coal tar and coal tar pitch, soot and petroleum asphalt.

(Indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene, NCI Thesaurus)

Benz(a)anthracene is primarily found in gasoline and diesel exhaust, tobacco and cigarette smoke, coal tar and coal tar pitch, coal combustion emissions, charcoal-broiled foods, amino acids, fatty acids and carbohydrate pyrolysis products, wood and soot smoke, and creosote, asphalt and mineral oils.

(Benz[a]anthracene, NCI Thesaurus)

These UGR researchers have produced more than five joint scientific publications in high-impact journals and have secured two patents—on mechano-mutable asphalt (PCT/ES2014/071002) and pavement safety systems (P201631096).

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

With regard to the marking, said he, I am inclined to agree with my friend and colleague, Professor Summerlee, that the stains are from asphalt.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Sometimes the rattle of the stones told of a paved causeway, and at others our smooth, silent course suggested asphalt; but, save by this variation in sound, there was nothing at all which could in the remotest way help me to form a guess as to where we were.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Scientists from the University of Granada have used magnetic materials in “smart” asphalts that modify their properties in the presence of external magnetic fields.

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