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Definition 2024

gasoline

gasoline

English

Alternative forms

  • gasolene (archaic in America, but not in Jamaica)

Noun

gasoline ‎(usually uncountable, plural gasolines)

  1. (uncountable, Canada, US) A flammable liquid consisting of a mixture of refined petroleum hydrocarbons, mainly used as a motor fuel; petrol.
    • 1864, Congress of the United States, Internal Revenue Act §94:
      ... naphtha of specific gravity exceeding eighty degrees ... and of the kind usually known as gasoline, shall be subject to a tax of five per centum ad valorem.
    • 1991, Robert DeNiro (actor), Backdraft:
      So you punched out a window for ventilation. Was that before or after you noticed you were standing in a lake of gasoline?
    • 2012 October 31, David M. Halbfinger, "," New York Times (retrieved 31 October 2012):
      Localities across New Jersey imposed curfews to prevent looting. In Monmouth, Ocean and other counties, people waited for hours for gasoline at the few stations that had electricity. Supermarket shelves were stripped bare.
  2. (countable) A certain kind of gasoline.
    The quality of automobile gasolines varies considerably from one country and producer to another.
    The X refinery produces a wide range of gasolines.

Usage notes

Gasoline is defined by its combustion properties rather than by chemical composition, which is quite variable.

Synonyms

Derived terms

  • gas (North America)

Translations

Adjective

gasoline ‎(not comparable)

  1. Made from or using gasoline.
    • 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 1, in Internal Combustion:
      If successful, Edison and Ford—in 1914—would move society away from the ever more expensive and then universally known killing hazards of gasoline cars: […] .

References

  1. ↑ The Solicitors' Journal and Reporter, volume 9, page 368, 1865
  2. ↑ John Lloyd, John Mitchinson, 1,227 QI Facts To Blow Your Socks Off, Faber & Faber, 2012 ISBN 0571297951.
  3. ↑ http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2012/04/the-origin-of-gasoline/

Italian

Noun

gasoline f

  1. plural of gasolina

Anagrams

Etymology

From Cazeline (possibly influenced by Gazeline, the name of an Irish copy), a brand of petroleum-derived lighting oil,[1] from the surname of the man who first marketed it in 1862, John Cassell,[2] and the suffix –eline, from Greek ἔλαιον ‎(élaion, “oil, olive oil”), from ἐλαία ‎(elaía, “olive”). Gasolene is found from 1863, and gasoline from 1864.[3]

Pronunciation

  • (UK, US) IPA(key): /ˈɡæs.ə.lin/ US, dialectal: /gæsl̩ ˈin/, /gæsˈlin/, [gæˈsɵlin], or [gæsɵˈlin]
  • Rhymes: -iːn

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