Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Coal
Coal
(kōl)
, Noun.
1.
A thoroughly charred, and extinguished or still ignited, fragment from wood or other combustible substance; charcoal.
2.
(Min.)
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.
☞ 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.
☞ 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.
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
,Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Coaled
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Coaling
.] 1.
To burn to charcoal; to char.
[R.]
Charcoal of roots,
coaled
into great pieces. Bacon.
2.
To mark or delineate with charcoal.
Camden.
3.
To supply with coal;
as, to
. coal
a steamerCoal
,Verb.
I.
To take in coal;
as, the steamer
. coaled
at SouthamptonWebster 1828 Edition
Coal
COAL
, n.1.
A piece of wood, or other combustible substance, ignited, burning, or charred. When burning or ignited, it is called a live coal, or burning coal, or coal of fire. When the fire is extinct, it is called charcoal.2.
In the language of chimists, any substance containing oil, which has been exposed to a fire in a close vessel, so that its volatile matter is expelled, and it can sustain a red heat without further decomposition.3.
In mineralogy, a solid, opake, inflammable substance, found in the earth, and by way of distinction called fossil coal. It is divided by recent mineralogists into three species, anthracite or glance coal, black or bituminous coal, and brown coal or lignite; under which are included many varieties, such as cannel coal, bovey coal, jet, &c.COAL
, v.t.1.
To burn to coal, or charcoal; to char.2.
To mark or delineate with charcoal.Definition 2024
coal
coal
See also: Coal.
English
A nugget of anthracite coal.
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
Terms derived from coal
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Related terms
Translations
uncountable: carbon rock
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countable: carbon rock
smouldering material
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, 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.
- 1890, Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, ch. XVI:
- (intransitive) To be converted to charcoal.
- 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.
- 1957, H.R. Schubert, History of the British Iron and Steel Industry, page 18:
- (transitive) To burn to charcoal; to char.
- Francis Bacon
- Charcoal of roots, coaled into great pieces.
- Francis Bacon
- (transitive) To mark or delineate with charcoal.
- Camden
- Marvailing, he coaled out rhimes upon the wall, near to the picture.
- Camden
- (transitive) To supply with coal.
- to coal a steamer