blacktop

English

Etymology

From black +‎ top.

Alternative forms

• black top, black-top

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈblæktɒp/

Noun

blacktop (countable and uncountable, plural blacktops)

1. (US, uncountable) Asphalt concrete or similar bituminous black paving material used for the surface of roads (e.g., tarmacadam, tarmac). [from 20th c.]
   • 1953, Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye, Penguin 2010, p. 284:

     Then I was around the hill on the blacktop and in another country.

2. (US, countable) A road so paved.

Verb

blacktop (third-person singular simple present blacktops, present participle blacktopping, simple past and past participle blacktopped)

1. (US) To pave with blacktop. [from 20th c.]

   The county first blacktopped that road decades ago