coal
See also: Coal.
English

A nugget of anthracite coal.
Etymology
From Middle English cole, from Old English col, from Proto-Germanic *kulą (compare West Frisian koal, Dutch kool, German Kohle, Danish kul), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷol- (compare Old Irish gúal (“coal”), Tocharian B śoliye (“hearth”), Persian زغال (zoġāl, “live coal”)), from *ǵwelH- (“to glow, burn”) (compare Lithuanian žvìlti (“to twinkle, glow”), Sanskrit ज्वलति (jvalati, “to burn, glow”)).
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /kəʊl/, /kɔʊl/
- Rhymes: -əʊl
- (General American) IPA(key): /koʊl/
Audio (US) (file) - Homophones: cole, kohl
Noun
coal (countable and uncountable, plural coals)
- (uncountable) A black rock formed from prehistoric plant remains, composed largely of carbon and burned as a fuel.
- (countable) A piece of coal used for burning. Note that in British English either of the following examples could be used, whereas the latter would be more common in American English.
- Put some coals on the fire.
- Put some coal on the fire.
- (countable) A type of coal, such as bituminous, anthracite, or lignite, and grades and varieties thereof.
- (countable) A glowing or charred piece of coal, wood, or other solid fuel.
- Just as the camp-fire died down to just coals, with no flames to burn the marshmallows, someone dumped a whole load of wood on, so I gave up and went to bed.
- Charcoal.
Hyponyms
Derived terms
- bituminous coal, soft coal
- coal-fired, coalfired
- coalmine, coal mine
- hard coal (see: anthracite)
- Bovey coal
- brown coal
- channel coal
- coal ball
- coal bed
- coal black
- coalboy
- Coal County
- coal cracker
- coal gas
- Coalgate
- coal hole
- coal oil
- coal pusher
- coals to Newcastle
- coal tar
- coal tit
- coal train
- Coalville
- white coal
Translations
uncountable: carbon rock
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countable: carbon rock
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smouldering material
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Verb
coal (third-person singular simple present coals, present participle coaling, simple past and past participle coaled)
- (intransitive) To take on a supply of coal (usually of steam ships).
- 1890, Oscar Wilde, chapter XVI, in The Picture of Dorian Gray:
- The light shook and splintered in the puddles. A red glare came from an outward-bound steamer that was coaling.
- 1863, Colonial Secretary to Commander Baldwin, USN
- shortly after that she coaled again at Simon's Bay; and that after remaining in the neighbourhood of our ports for a time, she proceeded to Mauritius, where she coaled again, and then returned to this colony.
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- (transitive) To supply with coal.
- to coal a steamer
- January 1917, National Geographic Magazine, Volume 31 Number 1, One Hundred British Seaports
- Cruisers may be coaled at sea and provided with ammunition openly. The submarine may not
- (intransitive) To be converted to charcoal.
- 2014, Ken Mudge and Steve Gabriel, Farming the Woods
- After the initial burn the goal of any good fire should be coaling; that is, creating a bed of solid coals that will sustain the fire.
- 1957, H.R. Schubert, History of the British Iron and Steel Industry, page 18:
- As a result, particles of wood and twigs insufficiently coaled are frequently found at the bottom of such pits.
- 2014, Ken Mudge and Steve Gabriel, Farming the Woods
- (transitive) To burn to charcoal; to char.
- '1622, Francis Bacon, Natural History
- Char-coal of roots, coaled into great pieces.
- '1622, Francis Bacon, Natural History
- (transitive) To mark or delineate with charcoal.
- 1551, William Camden, Remains concerning Britain
- […] marvailing, he coaled out these rithms upon the wall near to the picture
- 1551, William Camden, Remains concerning Britain
References
coal in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
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