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bitumen

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bi⋅tu⋅men

[bahy-too-muhn, -tyoo-, bi-, bich-oo-]
–noun
1. any of various natural substances, as asphalt, maltha, or gilsonite, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons.
2. (formerly) an asphalt of Asia Minor used as cement and mortar.

Origin:
1425–75; late ME bithumen < L bitūmen


bi⋅tu⋅mi⋅noid [bahy-too-muh-noid, -tyoo-, bi-] , adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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bi·tu·men   (bĭ-tōō'mən, -tyōō'-, bī-)   
n.  Any of various flammable mixtures of hydrocarbons and other substances, occurring naturally or obtained by distillation from coal or petroleum, that are a component of asphalt and tar and are used for surfacing roads and for waterproofing.

[Middle English bithumen, a mineral pitch from the Near East, from Latin bitūmen, perhaps of Celtic origin.]
bi·tu'mi·noid' (-mə-noid') adj.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

bitumen 
1460, from L. bitumen "asphalt," probably, via Oscan or Umbrian, from a Celtic source (cf. Gaulish betulla "birch," used by Pliny for the tree supposedly the source of bitumen). Bituminous is from 1620.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Bible Dictionary

Bitumen

Gen. 11:3, R.V., margin, rendered in the A.V. "slime"), a mineral pitch. With this the ark was pitched (6:14. See also Ex. 2:3.) (See SLIME.)

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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