a soft grey mineral that does not burn and can be woven into material, used especially in the past in building as a protection against fire or to prevent heat loss. Asbestos is dangerous if you breathe it in. Topics The environmentc2, Buildingsc2石棉 Oxford Collocations DictionaryAsbestos is used before these nouns:- exposure
- fibre
Word Originearly 17th cent., via Latin from Greek asbestos ‘unquenchable’ (applied by Dioscurides to quicklime), from a- ‘not’ + sbestos (from sbennumi ‘quench’).