Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PE'TROL, or PE-TRO'LE-UM, n. [Fr. petrole, from Gr. πετρος, a stone, and ελαιον, oil; quasi petrolaion.]

Rock oil, a liquid inflammable substance or bitumen exsuding from the earth and collected on the surface of the water in wells, in various parts of the world, or oozing from cavities in rocks. It is essentially composed of carbon and hydrogen. – Fourcroy. Kirwan. Cyc.