Macadamises

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Surfaces a road by spreading and compacting crushed stone bound together with tar or bitumen in the manner pioneered by John Loudon McAdam
2. Covers a roadway with layers of broken stone sealed by a binder so it becomes firm and smooth for traffic
3. Builds a paved track by laying compacted crushed rock held in place with bituminous material across its surface

Etymology: "Macadamises" is the third-person singular present form of "macadamise", meaning to pave a road with stone laid in layers and bound together with small broken stone or gravel. The verb is formed from "macadam", the name of the Scottish engineer John Loudon McAdam (1756–1836), whose road-building method gave the verb its sense. Adding "-ise" to a proper name in this way produces a verb meaning to treat something in the manner associated with that person, so "macadamise" describes the process of building a road the way McAdam did.

Synonyms: pave, surface, metal