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macadam

- 3 dictionary results

mac⋅ad⋅am

[muh-kad-uhm]
–noun
1. a macadamized road or pavement.
2. the broken stone used in making such a road.

Origin:
1815–25; named after J. L. McAdam (1756–1836), Scottish engineer who invented it
mac·ad·am   (mə-kād'əm)   
n.  Pavement made of layers of compacted broken stone, now usually bound with tar or asphalt.

[After John Loudon McAdam (1756-1836), Scottish civil engineer.]

macadam 
1824, named for inventor, Scot. civil engineer John L. McAdam (1756-1836), who developed a method of leveling roads and paving them with gravel and outlined the process in his pamphlet "Remarks on the Present System of Road-Making" (1822). Originally, road material consisting of a solid mass of stones of nearly uniform size laid down in layers; he did not approve of the use of binding materials or rollers. The idea of mixing tar with the gravel began 1880s. Verb macadamize is first recorded 1826.
Language Translation for : macadam
Spanish: material revestido con alquitrán,
German: der Teermakadam,
Japanese: 舗装用材の一種
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