coal

[kohl]

noun

1. a black or dark-brown combustible mineral substance consisting of carbonized vegetable matter, used as a fuel.

2. a piece of glowing, charred, or burned wood or other combustible substance.

3. charcoal.

verb (used with object)

1. to burn to coal or charcoal.

2. to provide with coal.

verb (used without object)

1. to take in coal for fuel.

coal

/ kəʊl /

noun

1. 1. a combustible compact black or dark-brown carbonaceous rock formed from compaction of layers of partially decomposed vegetation: a fuel and a source of coke, coal gas, and coal tar See also anthracite bituminous coal lignite peat 1

   2. ( as modifier )

      coal cellar

      coal merchant

      coal mine

      coal dust

2. one or more lumps of coal

3. short for charcoal

4. something supplied where it is already plentiful

5. to reprimand someone

verb

1. to take in, provide with, or turn into coal

coal

1. A dark-brown to black solid substance formed from the compaction and hardening of fossilized plant parts in the presence of water and in the absence of air. Carbonaceous material accounts for more than 50 percent of coal's weight and more than 70 percent of its volume. Coal is widely used as a fuel, and its combustion products are used as raw material for a variety of products including cement, asphalt, wallboard and plastics.

2. See more at anthracite bituminous coal lignite

Other Word Forms

• coalless adjective
• coaly adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of coal¹

before 900; Middle English cole, Old English col; cognate with Dutch kool, German Kohle, Old Norse kol

Word History and Origins

Origin of coal¹

Old English col; related to Old Norse kol, Old High German kolo, Old Irish gūal

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. heap coals of fire on someone's head, to repay evil with good in order to make one's enemy repent.

2. rake / haul / drag / call / take over the coals, to reprimand; scold.

   They were raked over the coals for turning out slipshod work.

see carry coals to Newcastle; rake over the coals.

Example Sentences

Locals say career opportunities are largely nonexistent outside of mining and some heavy manufacturing companies that support the coal and timber industries.

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As Mr. Tremlett writes, Spaniards during the first two decades after Franco’s death “genuinely did not want to rake over old coals.”

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But the backbreaking work left behind—often in agriculture or coal mines—was worse.

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It is the world's second-largest coal exporter, holds the third-largest coal reserves and continues to channel billions of dollars in public subsidies to fossil fuels.

Read more on Barron's

But it is also one of the world's biggest coal exporters, and a major exporter of liquefied natural gas.

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