ASPHALT • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Asphalt

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/ˈæsfˌɔlt/ Listen

noun

Asphaltum, Asphalt n.

Mineral pitch, Jews' pitch, or compact native bitumen. It is brittle, of a black or brown color and high luster on a surface of fracture; it melts and burns when heated, leaving no residue. It occurs on the surface and shores of the Dead Sea, which is therefore called Asphaltites, or the Asphaltic Lake. It is found also in many parts of Asia, Europe, and America. See Bitumen.

A composition of bitumen, pitch, lime, and gravel, used for forming pavements, and as a water-proof cement for bridges, roofs, etc.; asphaltic cement. Artificial asphalt is prepared from coal tar, lime, sand, etc.

Asphalt stone, Asphalt rock, a limestone found impregnated with asphalt.

verb

Asphalt v. t. To cover with asphalt; as, to asphalt a roof; asphalted streets.

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Etymology of 'Asphalt'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Asphalt" Quotes from Famous Books

... walks to his death! He goes there by the long line of the boulevards, all on fire in the direction of the Madeleine, where he treads the elastic asphalt once more as a lounger, nose in the air, hands crossed behind. He has time; there is no hurry; he is master of the rendezvous. At each instant he smiles before him, waves a greeting from the ends of his fingers or makes the more formal bow ...

— The Nabob • Alphonse Daudet

... value: $228 million (f.o.b., 1996 est.) commodities: asphalt, metals and metallic ores, electricity, crude oil, vegetables, fruits, tobacco partners: Italy, Greece, Germany, ...

— The 1998 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency.

... reputation can afford—to hold that office; it will surely wreck it." It made Colonel Waring's reputation. He took the trucks from the streets. Tammany, in a brief interregnum of vigor under Mayor Grant, had laid the axe to the unsightly telegraph poles and begun to pave the streets with asphalt, but it left the trucks and the ash barrels to Colonel Waring as hopeless. Trucks have votes; at least their drivers have. Now that they are gone, the drivers would be the last to bring them back; for they have children, too, and the rescued streets gave them their first playground. Perilous, ...

— The Battle with the Slum • Jacob A. Riis

... He watched the heavy horses throw themselves into the traces, as the whip fell across their flanks. He watched the van slowly gather momentum. He watched it rumble heavily down the sodden asphalt.... At length it ...

— A Fool There Was • Porter Emerson Browne

... the Audientia, the Capella major, and the terraces: and these were so admirably planned and contrived that peradventure no palace comparable to it was to be found in the whole world. The terraces referred to were those raised over the great chapel, and were formed of stone, bedded in asphalt and laid on a staging of stout oak joists; the view from the terraces was unparalleled for range ...

— Seeing Europe with Famous Authors, Volume 3 • Various

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