• Coal

    Pronunciation

    • UK IPA: /kəʊl/, /kɔʊl/
    • Rhymes: -əʊl
    • GenAm IPA: /koÊŠl/
      • also IPA: /klÌ©/
    • Homophones: cole, kohl

    Origin

    From Middle English cole, from Old English col, from Proto-Germanic *kulą, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷol- (compare Irish gúal ("coal"), Tocharian B śoliye ("hearth"), Persian زغال (zuγāl, "live coal")), from *gʷelH- ‘to glow, burn’ (compare Lithuanian žvìlti ("to twinkle, glow"), Sanskrit ज्वलति (jvalati, "to burn, glow")).

    Full definition of coal

    Noun

    coal

    (plural coal or coals)
    1. (uncountable) A black rock formed from prehistoric plant remains, composed largely of carbon and burned as a fuel.
    2. (countable) A piece of coal used for burning. Note that in British English the first of the following examples could be used, whereas in both British and American English the latter would.Put some coals on the fire.Put some coal on the fire.
    3. (countable) A type of coal, such as bituminous, anthracite, or lignite, and grades and varieties thereof.
    4. (countable) A smouldering piece of material.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.

    Related terms

    Verb

    1. (intransitive) To take on a supply of coal (usually of steam ships).
      • 1890, Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, ch. XVI:The light shook and splintered in the puddles. A red glare came from an outward-bound steamer that was coaling.
    2. (intransitive) To be converted to charcoal.
      • 1957, H.R. Schubert, History of the British Iron and Steel Industry, p. 18:As a result, particles of wood and twigs insufficiently coaled are frequently found at the bottom of such pits.
    3. (transitive) To burn to charcoal; to char.
      • Francis BaconCharcoal of roots, coaled into great pieces.
    4. (transitive) To mark or delineate with charcoal.
    5. (transitive) To supply with coal.to coal a steamer

    Anagrams

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