coal, n. [AS. col; akin to D. kool, OHG. chol, cholo, G. kohle, Icel. kol, pl., Sw. kol, Dan. kul; cf. Skr. jval to burn. Cf. Kiln, Collier.].

A thoroughly charred, and extinguished or still ignited, fragment from wood or other combustible substance; charcoal. [1913 Webster]
A black, or brownish black, solid, combustible substance, dug from beds or veins in the earth to be used for fuel, and consisting, like charcoal, mainly of carbon, but more compact, and often affording, when heated, a large amount of volatile matter. [1913 Webster]
" This word is often used adjectively, or as the first part of self-explaining compounds; as, coal-black; coal formation; coal scuttle; coal ship. etc." [1913 Webster]

" In England the plural coals is used, for the broken mineral coal burned in grates, etc.; as, to put coals on the fire. In the United States the singular in a collective sense is the customary usage; as, a hod of coal." [1913 Webster]

Age of coal plants. See Age of Acrogens, under Acrogen. -- Anthracite or Glance coal. See Anthracite. -- Bituminous coal. See under Bituminous. -- Blind coal. See under Blind. -- Brown coal or Brown Lignite. See Lignite. -- Caking coal, a bituminous coal, which softens and becomes pasty or semi-viscid when heated. On increasing the heat, the volatile products are driven off, and a coherent, grayish black, cellular mass of coke is left. -- Cannel coal, a very compact bituminous coal, of fine texture and dull luster. See Cannel coal. -- Coal bed (Geol.), a layer or stratum of mineral coal. -- Coal breaker, a structure including machines and machinery adapted for crushing, cleansing, and assorting coal. -- Coal field (Geol.), a region in which deposits of coal occur. Such regions have often a basinlike structure, and are hence called coal basins. See Basin. -- Coal gas, a variety of carbureted hydrogen, procured from bituminous coal, used in lighting streets, houses, etc., and for cooking and heating. -- Coal heaver, a man employed in carrying coal, and esp. in putting it in, and discharging it from, ships. -- Coal measures. (Geol.) (a) Strata of coal with the attendant rocks. (b) A subdivision of the carboniferous formation, between the millstone grit below and the Permian formation above, and including nearly all the workable coal beds of the world. -- Coal oil, a general name for mineral oils; petroleum. -- Coal plant (Geol.), one of the remains or impressions of plants found in the strata of the coal formation. -- Coal tar. See in the Vocabulary. -- To haul over the coals, to call to account; to scold or censure. [Colloq.] -- Wood coal. See Lignite.

coal, v. t.

To burn to charcoal; to char. [1913 Webster]
"Charcoal of roots, coaled into great pieces." [1913 Webster]
To mark or delineate with charcoal. Camden. [1913 Webster]
To supply with coal; as, to coal a steamer. [1913 Webster]

coal, v. i.

To take in coal; as, the steamer coaled at Southampton. [1913 Webster]

top

OXFORD DICTIONARY

coal, n. & v.
--n.
1 a a hard black or blackish rock, mainly carbonized plant matter, found in underground seams and used as a fuel and in the manufacture of gas, tar, etc. b Brit. a piece of this for burning.
2 a red-hot piece of coal, wood, etc. in a fire.
--v.
1 intr. take in a supply of coal.
2 tr. put coal into (an engine, fire, etc.).

Idiom

coal-bed a stratum of coal. coal-black completely black. coal-fired heated or driven by coal. coal gas mixed gases extracted from coal and used for lighting and heating. coal-hole Brit. a compartment or small cellar for storing coal. coal measures a series of rocks formed by seams of coal with intervening strata. coal oil US petroleum or paraffin. coal-sack
1 a sack for carrying coal.
2 a black patch in the Milky Way, esp. the one near the Southern Cross. coal-scuttle a container for coal to supply a domestic fire. coal-seam a stratum of coal suitable for mining. coals to Newcastle something brought or sent to a place where it is already plentiful. coal tar a thick black oily liquid distilled from coal and used as a source of benzene. coal-tit (or cole-tit) a small greyish bird, Parus ater, with a black head: also called COALMOUSE. haul (or call) over the coals reprimand.

Derivative

coaly adj.

Etymology

OE col f. Gmc

top

THESAURUS

coal

alcohol, anthracite, ash, ashes, benzine, blaze, blister, brand, briquette, brown coal, bunker, burn, burn in, burn off, burnable, burning ember, butane, calx, carbon, cast, cater, cauterize, char, charcoal, cinder, clinker, coke, combustible, coom, crack, crow, cupel, detonate, dope, dross, ebon, ebony, ember, ethane, ethanol, explode, feed, fill up, fireball, firebrand, firing, flame, flammable, flammable material, forage, found, fuel, fuel additive, fuel dope, fuel up, fulminate, fume, gas, gas carbon, gas up, gasoline, heptane, hexane, inflammable, inflammable material, ink, isooctane, jet, jet fuel, kerosene, lava, lignite, live coal, methane, methanol, natural gas, night, octane, oil, oxidate, oxidize, paraffin, parch, peat, pentane, pitch, propane, propellant, provender, provision, purvey, pyrolyze, raven, reek, refuel, rocket fuel, scorch, scoria, sea coal, sear, sell, singe, slag, sloe, smoke, smudge, smut, solder, soot, stoke, sullage, swinge, tar, top off, torrefy, turf, vesicate, victual, vulcanize, weld

top

ROGET THESAURUS

coal

Fuel

N fuel, firing, combustible, coal, wallsend, anthracite, culm, coke, carbon, charcoal, bituminous coal, tar shale, turf, peat, firewood, bobbing, faggot, log, cinder, ingle, tinder, touchwood, sulphur, brimstone, incense, port-fire, fire-barrel, fireball, brand, amadou, bavin, blind coal, glance coal, German tinder, pyrotechnic sponge, punk, smudge, solid fueled rocket, wax, paraffin wax, paraffin oil, lamp oil, whale oil, oil, petroleum, gasoline, high octane gasoline, nitromethane, petrol, gas, juice, gasohol, alcohol, ethanol, methanol, fuel oil, kerosene, jet fuel, heating oil, number 2 oil, number 4 oil, naphtha, rocket fuel, high specific impulse fuel, liquid hydrogen, liquid oxygen, lox, natural gas, synthetic gas, synthesis gas, propane, butane, hydrogen, brand, torch, fuse, wick, spill, match, light, lucifer, congreve, vesuvian, vesta, fusee, locofoco, linstock, candle, oil, carbonaceous, combustible, inflammable, high octane, high specific impulse, heat of combustion.

Also see definition of "coal" in Bible Study Dictionaries

For further exploring for "coal" in Webster Dictionary Online