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Synonyms

collier

1 American  
[kol-yer] / ˈkɒl yər /

noun

  1. a ship for carrying coal.

  2. a coal miner.

  3. Obsolete. a person who carries or sells coal.

Collier 2 American  
[kol-yer] / ˈkɒl yər /

noun

  1. Jeremy, 1650–1726, English clergyman and author.

collier British  
/ ˈkɒlɪə /

noun

  1. a coal miner

    1. a ship designed to transport coal

    2. a member of its crew

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of collier

1300–50; Middle English coliere; coal, -ier 1

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

My grandfather had been a collier in northern England, my father a career Marine sergeant.

From New York Times • Dec. 17, 2021

It looked to him as though the collier was heading straight for the smaller boat but he thought little of it, having faith the Bywell Castle would alter its path.

From BBC • Sep. 2, 2018

It's thought the pub's strange name derives from the fact that a collier - a ship carrying coal - from Whitby in North Yorkshire used to moor regularly beside the pub.

From BBC • Jan. 2, 2017

The sinking of its cutter Tampa with 115 souls aboard stands, with the exception of the Navy's lost collier Cyclops, as the largest single U. S. naval loss during the World War.

From Time Magazine Archive

And it appeared that this collier who had forgotten his Davy had yet another lamp with him—the lamp of his own narrow intelligence and inalienable, if worthless, experience.

From A Crooked Mile by Onions, Oliver [pseud.]

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.