the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
noun.
A variety of amphibole or of pyroxene, occurring in long and delicate fibers, or in fibrous masses or seams, usually of a white, gray, or green-gray color. The name is also given to a similar variety of serpentine.
"Pliny, the Roman naturalist, says he has seen napkins of asbestus taken soiled from the table after a feast, which were thrown into the fire, and by that means better scoured than if they had been washed with water."