Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A bituminous material, such as asphalt, used to pave roads.
- transitive verb To pave with a bituminous material.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun a bituminous material used for providing a smooth paving to a road.
- noun the surface of a road paved with blacktop{1}.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb coat with blacktop
- noun a black bituminous material used for paving roads or other areas; usually spread over crushed rock
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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She said that blacktop is about 20 degrees warmer than regular pavement.
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Macadam (a material fashioned from coal slag and coil that we know as blacktop) was developed in Scotland.
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Asphalt, also known as blacktop, is derived from crude oil, and its cost has been rising so far and fast that it is busting some highway construction and maintenance budgets.
Market News RICHARD RICHTMYER 2008
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From Guadalajara, your routes could be either through the long, slow, very scenic route of Old 15, a two-lane blacktop which is going to take you through some terrific countryside, lots of towns and topes, and quick frequently the back end of a truck or bus.
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I remember when Jim Thompson was governor and the roads were being retopped with "blacktop" and there was a stink raised because Europe has a new road surface that lasts for 20 years and we should spend our money on this.
chicagotribune.com - 2010
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The rude bump of the wheels on blacktop and the soft ding of the "seatbelt off" sign after taxiing are inevitably accompanied by the impatient sound of one hundred seatbelts flying off as eager travelers stampede for the privilege of being the first to stand in line at baggage claim.
Gemma de Choisy: Confessions of a Dual Citizen Gemma de Choisy 2011
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Just beyond, pink impatiens line the blacktop driveway that leads into the garage where rows of tools arranged by size hang above the workbench.
Snapshot Maura Fitzgerald 2011
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Just beyond, pink impatiens line the blacktop driveway that leads into the garage where rows of tools arranged by size hang above the workbench.
Snapshot Maura Fitzgerald 2011
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The rude bump of the wheels on blacktop and the soft ding of the "seatbelt off" sign after taxiing are inevitably accompanied by the impatient sound of one hundred seatbelts flying off as eager travelers stampede for the privilege of being the first to stand in line at baggage claim.
Gemma de Choisy: Confessions of a Dual Citizen Gemma de Choisy 2011
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The rude bump of the wheels on blacktop and the soft ding of the "seatbelt off" sign after taxiing are inevitably accompanied by the impatient sound of one hundred seatbelts flying off as eager travelers stampede for the privilege of being the first to stand in line at baggage claim.
Gemma de Choisy: Confessions of a Dual Citizen Gemma de Choisy 2011
bilby commented on the word blacktop
This word seems very American to me. I was fascinated by a film called Two-Lane Blacktop - yes, I'm the kind of person who'll spend 2 hours trying to pin down the meaning of a word - because I have categorically never heard this word in use in Australia.
May 10, 2008
frindley commented on the word blacktop
Me neither. I'd probably call the material bitumen. Not sure if there's a one-word equivalent for the verb form, perhaps tar?
May 10, 2008
asativum commented on the word blacktop
Also known as asphalt in the U.S., though some asphalt is grayer than blacktop.
May 11, 2008
yarb commented on the word blacktop
Tarmac, anyone?
May 11, 2008
frindley commented on the word blacktop
Asphalt is used in Australia, but not so much in connection with roads or highways - it's a surface I strongly associate with school playgrounds.
Tarmac, at least for this Aussie, is exclusively an aviation/airport term, referring to the runway, as in "we hit the tarmac at about 9.30". Oh, I can see, over on tarmac, that resetee has identified tarmac=runway as a British usage dating from 1919.
May 11, 2008
yarb commented on the word blacktop
I never knew about the runway usage. Tarmac was what roads were made of where I were brung up.
May 11, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word blacktop
We call it macadam where I grew up, because a man named Macadam supposedly invented it. I remember discussing this previously on Wordie, in the long ago time. (See macadam.)
May 12, 2008