Asbestos

Definition: Asbestos

Asbestos

Noun

1. A fibrous amphibole; used for making fireproof articles; inhaling fibers can cause asbestosis or lung cancer.

Date "asbestos" was first used: 11th century. (references)

Specialty Definition: Asbestos

Domain	Definition
Computing	Asbestos adj. [common] Used as a modifier to anything intended to protect one from flames; also in other highly flame-suggestive usages. See, for example, asbestos longjohns and asbestos cork award. Source: Jargon File.
Chemistry	A natural mineral substance produced by the decomposition of certain rocks; its main property is its resistance to fire and acids. Source: European Union. (references)
Environment	A mineral fiber that can pollute air or water and cause cancer or asbestosis when inhaled. EPA has banned or severely restricted its use in manufacturing and construction. (references)
Health	Fibrous incombustible mineral composed of magnesium and calcium silicates with or without other elements. It is relatively inert chemically and used in thermal insulation and fireproofing. Inhalation of dust causes asbestosis and later lung and gastrointestinal neoplasms. (references)
Mining	A. A commercial term applied to silicate minerals that separate readily into thin, strong fibers that are flexible, heat resistant, and chemically inert, thus making them suitable for uses (as in yarn, cloth, paper, paint, brake linings, tiles, insulation, cement, fillers, and filters) where incombustible, nonconducting, or chemically resistant material is required. Since the early 1970's, there have been serious enviromental concerns about the potential health hazards of asbestos products, which has resulted in strong enviromental regulations. b. Any asbestiform mineral of the serpentine group (chrysotile, best adapted for spinning and the principal variety in commerce) or amphibole group (esp. actinolite, anthophyllite, gedrite, cummingtonite, grunerite, riebeckite, and tremolite). c. A term strictly applied to asbestiform actinolite. Syn:asbestus;amianthus; earth flax; mountain flax; rock wool. (references)
Public Administration	Mineral fibers of ferromagnesium silicate, known for their fire resistance. This versatile material was much used for construction cement strenghtening and fireproof fabrics, but its use banned due to its harmful effects on health. Source: European Union. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Top

Specialty Definition: Asbestos

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Asbestos (Greek a-, "not"; sbestos, "extinguishable") is a group of fibrous metamorphic mineralss. Asbestos was historically used for lamp wicks from which the name derives. It was also in fabrics such as Egyptian burial cloths and Charlemagne's tablecloth which legend says he threw in a fire to clean. The fibres are typically mixed with cement or woven into fabric or mats. It is used in buildings for its flame-retardant and insulating properties, its tensile strength, flexibility, and its resistance to chemicals, but is now known to be carcinogenic and is banned in many countries.

Types of asbestos

Chrysolite, or white asbestos, is obtained from Canadian serpentine rocks. It is less friable, and therefore less likely to be inhaled, than the other types and is the type most often used industrially.
Amosite, or brown asbestos, is an amphibole from Africa.
Crocidolite, or blue asbestos, is an amphibole from Africa and Australia. It is the fibrous form of riebeckite.

Notes: Serpentine rocks are those with curled fibres. Amphiboles have straight, needle-like fibres.

The amphiboles, in their fibrous form, are friable and therefore the most carcinogenic, although they also exist in safer non-fibrous forms.

Other asbestos minerals, such as tremolite, actinolite and anthophyllite are not used industrially but occur in traces.

Asbestosis and Cancer

The fine asbestos fibres are easily inhaled, and can cause a number of respiratory complaints, including a potentially serious lung fibrosis asbestosis. Exposure to asbestos has also been determined to cause a very serious form of cancer, mesothelioma, that occurs in the chest and abdominal cavities. This aggressive disease is not properly referred to as a lung cancer, as the malignant cells are derived from the mesothelium, a tissue found on the inner walls of the chest and abdominal cavities and on the outer surface of the lungs rather than in the lung itself.

In the United States, asbestos was one of the first hazardous air pollutants regulated under Section 112 of the Clean Air Act of 1970.

Synonyms within Context: Asbestos

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Insulation, Fire extinction	Extincteur; fire annihilator; amianth, amianthus; earth-flax, mountain-flax; asbestos; fireman, fire fighter, fire eater, fire department, fire brigade, engine company; pumper, fire truck, hook and ladder, aerial ladder, bucket; fire hose, fire hydrant.
Refrigeration	Extincteur; fire annihilator; amianth, amianthus; earth-flax, mountain-flax; flexible asbestos; fireman, fire brigade (incombustibility) a.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Top

Crosswords: Asbestos

English words defined with "asbestos": asbestosis, Asbestus ♦ chrysotile ♦ mesothelioma ♦ tremolite. (references)

Specialty definitions using "asbestos": Asbestos Assessment, asbestos cork award, asbestos corn, asbestos longjohns, Asbestos Program Manager, ASBESTOS REMOVAL WORKER, asbestos wart, Asbestos, Crocidolite ♦ bastard asbestos, blue asbestos, BRAKE-LINING FINISHER, ASBESTOS ♦ crudy asbestos, cutter operator, asbestos shingle ♦ Friable Asbestos ♦ raw asbestos ♦ SUPERVISOR, ASBESTOS REMOVAL, SUPERVISOR, ASBESTOS TEXTILE. (references)

Non-English Usage: "Asbestos" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses.

Latin (asbestos, quicklime), Manx (asbestos), Swedish (asbestosis), Turkish (asbestos, rock cork, rock leather), Welsh (asbestos).

Top

Modern Usage: Asbestos

Domain	Usage
Screenplays	Oh yeah! There are so many ways to die in New York City! Race riots, drive by shootings, subway crashes, construction cranes collapsing on the sidewalks, manhole covers blowing up and asbestos shooting into the sky. (Denis Leary: No Cure for Cancer; writing credit: Denis Leary)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Top

Commercial Usage: Asbestos

Domain	Title
References	Asbestos Removal and Treatment Products in Italy: A Strategic Entry Report, 1996 (reference) The 2000 Import and Export Market for Asbestos in Europe (reference) The 2002 World Forecasts of Asbestos Export Supplies (reference) The 2003 World Forecasts of Asbestos Export Supplies (reference) The World Market for Asbestos and Friction Materials: A 2003 Global Trade Perspective (reference) (more reference examples)

Books	Asbestos Diseases and Exposure Control (Sourcebook on Asbestos Diseases, Vol 14) (reference) Environmental Public Health Policy for Asbestos in Schools: Unintended Consequences (reference) Magic Mineral to Killer Dust: Turner & Newall and the Asbestos Hazard (reference) Raising Children Toxic Free: How to Keep Your Child Safe from Lead, Asbestos, Pesticides, and Other Environmental Hazards (reference) The 2000 Import and Export Market for Asbestos and Friction Materials in Asia [DOWNLOAD: ADOBE READER] (reference) (more book examples)

Periodicals	Asbestos & Lead Abatement Report (reference) Asbestos Information Association News & Notes (reference) Asbestos Litigation Reporter (reference) Asbestos Summary Notification (reference) (more periodical examples)

Music	Asbestos (reference) Asbestos Weekend (reference) (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Top

Photo Album: Asbestos

Thumbnail	Description & Credit	Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	Histopathology of lung showing ferruginous body. A fiber of asbestos or related substance is coated by an iron-protein complex and surrounded by macrophages. Prussian blue iron stain. Credit: CDC.		[Company water filter. A linen bag with asbestos filter, Gungalin]. Credit: National Library of Medicine.
	Magnesium production worker wearing asbestos mitts. / USPHS Industrial Hygiene Division photo. Credit: National Library of Medicine.		When You Were Exposed To Asbestos, Were You This Well Protected?. Credit: National Library of Medicine.
	Production. Magnesium. Enormous asbestos mittens must be worn by men handling the thousands of hot magnesium ingots produced daily at Basic Magnesium's giant plant in the southern Nevada desert. A number of units of this plant are now in production. Full. Credit: Library of Congress.		House on Frank Armstrong's farm near Marseilles, Illinois. Armstrong rents one hundred twenty acre farm from landlord who is interested in building up his farm. This farmhouse has asbestos siding. Credit: Library of Congress.
	Ventilators. Raybestos Asbestos plant at Bridgeport, Connecticut. Credit: Library of Congress.		Construction of a railroad engine. Covering boiler with asbestos blocks. Credit: Library of Congress.
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Top

Non-Fiction Usage: Asbestos

Subject	Topic	Quote
Business		Asbestos found in building and pipework insulation and in vehicle braking systems is a serious health hazard. (references)
		Ultimate disposal is to controlled landfill, after sealing or encapsulation to bond the fibrous asbestos material. (references)
		Where possible, the affected area is sealed off and asbestos contaminated debris is vacuum-transferred into sealed containers. (references)
Economic History	Swaziland	Natural resources: asbestos, coal, diamonds, quarry stone, timber, talc. (references)
	Sudan	Small quantities of asbestos, chromium, and mica are exploited commercially. (references)
	Cyprus	Resources--pyrites, copper, asbestos, gypsum, lumber, salt, marble, clay, earth pigment. (references)
Trade	Zimbabwe	All base minerals from mines are exported through the Minerals Marketing Corporation (a state-owned company), with the exception of coal and asbestos. (references)
	Eritrea	Eritrea prohibits the import of old or used clothing, construction materials made of asbestos, ivory, second grade (denatured) alcohol, arms, weapons, and narcotics. (references)
	Mauritius	Imports of the following items are prohibited: ball valve bottles, caps for toy guns, recapped tires, white phosphorous matches, certain firecrackers, kerosene stoves, water scooters, ivory and tortoise shell, underwater fishing guns, candy in the form of cigarettes, toy crash helmets, cigarette papers, used motor vehicle spare parts, electric water heaters with bare elements, portable electric lamps, teething rings, rolling machines (other than industrial-type rolling machines) for cigarette manufacturing, blue asbestos and its products, and items containing chlorofluorocarbons (CFC). A detailed list is available from the Embassy. (references)
Worker Rights	Kuwait	The law also requires that employers provide periodic medical examinations to workers exposed to environmental hazards on the job, such as chemicals and asbestos. (references)
	China	Many factories that use harmful products, such as asbestos, not only fail to protect their workers against the ill effects of such products, but also do not inform them about the hazards. (references)
Lexicography	Devil's Dictionary	WEATHER, n. The climate of the hour. A permanent topic of conversation among persons whom it does not interest, but who have inherited the tendency to chatter about it from naked arboreal ancestors whom it keenly concerned. The setting up official weather bureaus and their maintenance in mendacity prove that even governments are accessible to suasion by the rude forefathers of the jungle. Once I dipt into the future far as human eye could see, And I saw the Chief Forecaster, dead as any one can be -- Dead and damned and shut in Hades as a liar from his birth, With a record of unreason seldom paralleled on earth. While I looked he reared him solemnly, that incadescent youth, From the coals that he'd preferred to the advantages of truth. He cast his eyes about him and above him; then he wrote On a slab of thin asbestos what I venture here to quote -- For I read it in the rose-light of the everlasting glow: "Cloudy; variable winds, with local showers; cooler; snow." Halcyon Jones
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Top

Spoken Usage: Asbestos

Speaker	Phrase(s)
Rush Limbaugh	One of the measures you develop to ensure that the building doesn't quickly collapse in the event of a fire is a thermal insulation of asbestos that can resist tremendous heat for a minimum of four hours before their girders might topple.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Top

Usage Frequency: Asbestos

"Asbestos" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 99.66% of the time. "Asbestos" is used about 297 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (singular)	99.66%	296	16,885
Noun (plural)	0.34%	1	339,140
Total	100.00%	297	N/A

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

Top

Expressions: Asbestos

Expressions using "asbestos": asbestos body ♦ asbestos cement ♦ asbestos cork award ♦ asbestos corn ♦ asbestos fiber ♦ asbestos longjohns ♦ asbestos wart ♦ blue asbestos ♦ raw asbestos ♦ serpentine asbestos. Additional references.
Hyphenated Usage
	Beginning with "asbestos": asbestos-bearing, asbestos-cement, asbestos-containing, asbestos-contaminated, asbestos-free, asbestos-infected, asbestos-like, asbestos-lined, asbestos-related, asbestos-removal.
	Ending with "asbestos": blue-asbestos, cement-asbestos, non-asbestos.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Top

Frequency of Internet Keywords: Asbestos

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Expression	Frequency per Day	Expression	Frequency per Day
asbestos	1,745	asbestos training	35
asbestos lawyer	231	asbestos law firm	34
asbestos removal	208	asbestos shingles	31
asbestos cancer	160	asbestos hatch	30
asbestos attorney	146	asbestos insulation	28
mesothelioma asbestos	127	asbestos cancer attorney	28
asbestos litigation	105	asbestos record	27
asbestos siding	103	asbestos floor tile	27
asbestos lawsuit	94	asbestos class action	26
asbestos exposure	93	asbestos poisoning	24
asbestos disease	88	asbestos bill hatch	20
asbestos abatement	87	asbestos legal advice	20
asbestos legislation	80	asbestos help	20
asbestos testing	63	asbestos survey	19
asbestos tile	61	asbestos information	19
asbestos picture	47	airborne asbestos	18
asbestos law	42	texas asbestos law firm	18
asbestos lung cancer	40	asbestos in the home	18
asbestos bill	40	asbestos settlement	17
asbestos claim	36	asbestos disposal	15
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Top

Modern Translation: Asbestos

Language		Translations for "asbestos"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Afrikaans		asbes. (various references)

Albanian		asbest (earth-flax). (various references)

Arabic		‏مادة الاسبست, ‏الحرير الصخري. (various references)

Bulgarian		азбест. (various references)

Chinese		石棉. (various references)

Czech		azbest, osinek (rock cork). (various references)

Danish		asbest (mountain-flax). (various references)

Dutch		asbest (mountain-flax). (various references)

Esperanto		asbesto. (various references)

Farsi		پنبه نسوز, پنبه کوهی , سنگ معدنی دارای رشته های بلند. (various references)

Finnish		asbesti. (various references)

French		asbeste, amiante. (various references)

German		asbest (mountain-flax). (various references)

Greek		αμίαντος (mountain-flax). (various references)

Hebrew		פשתן �"א�"מ�", אזבסט. (various references)

Hungarian		azbeszt (amianthus, fossil cork, salamander, salamander wool). (various references)

Indonesian		asbes. (various references)

Italian		amianto (amiantus), asbesto (mountain-flax). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		石綿 , アスファルト�"路 (asbestos cement, aspect, aspect ratio, asphalt road, blacktop, tarmac road). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		せきめ�" (blush), いしわた, アスベスト . (various references)

Korean		석면. (various references)

Manx		asbestos. (various references)

Papiamen		asbèstro, asbèst. (various references)

Pig Latin		asbestosay

Portuguese		amianto (earth-flax), asbesto (mountain-flax). (various references)

Romanian		azbest (amianthus). (various references)

Russian		асбест (earth-flax). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		azbest. (various references)

Spanish		amianto (earth-flax), asbesto (mountain-flax). (various references)

Swedish		asbest (earth-flax). (various references)

Thai		แร่ใยหิน. (various references)

Turkish		asbestos (rock cork, rock leather), asbest, amyant (amianthus, mineral wool). (various references)

Ukrainian		азбест. (various references)

Welsh		asbestos, ystinos, urael (asbestos cloth). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Top

Ancestral Language Translations: Asbestos

Language	Period	Translations
Greek	700 BCE-300 CE	asbestos. (various references)
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	asbestos. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Top

Derivations & Misspellings: Asbestos

Derivations
	Words beginning with "asbestos": asbestoses, asbestosis. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Asbestos" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Abasto, abestos, absestos, asbesto, asbestoess, asbestor, asbetos, aspestos, azbestos, isbestos, Osbaston, Sabberton, Sebastos, sestos. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

Top

Rhyming with "Asbestos"

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "asbestos" (pronounced asbe"stus)
4	-s t u s	armistice, hostess, injustice, justice, priestess, robustas.
3	-t u s	apparatus, apprentice, arthritis, berettas, bronchitis, cactus, calamitous, circuitous, countess, detritus, duplicitous, emeritus, encephalitis, eucalyptus, felicitous, fetus, fortuitous, gastritis, glottis, gratis, gratuitous, gravitas, hepatitis, hiatus, impetus, laryngitis, lattice, lettuce, Lotus, malpractice, margaritas, mastoiditis, meningitis, momentous, notice, osteoarthritis, portentous, poultice, precipitous, prophetess, prospectus, riotous, serendipitous, situs, solicitous, status, Stratus, tortoise, treatise, ubiquitous.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Top

Anagrams: Asbestos

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-b-e-o-s-s-s-t"
	-1 letter: bassets.
	-2 letters: assets, basest, basses, basset, bassos, bastes, beasts, besots, boasts, bosses, obsess, sabots, stases, tasses, tosses.
	-3 letters: abets, asses, asset, bases, basso, baste, basts, bates, beast, beats, besot, bests, betas, boast, boats, botas, easts, oases, oasts, sabes, sabot, sates, seats, stabs, stoae, stoas, stobs, stoss, tabes, tasse, toeas.
	-4 letters: abet, abos, ates, base.
	Words containing the letters "a-b-e-o-s-s-s-t"
	+2 letters: asbestoses, asbestosis, autobusses.
	+3 letters: albatrosses, osteoblasts.
	+4 letters: absoluteness, blastospores, boastfulness, contrabasses, oblatenesses.
	+5 letters: ambitiousness, beauteousness, blastomycoses, breaststrokes, notablenesses, obstinateness, potablenesses.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.