stoke

¹ American  

[stohk] / stoʊk /

verb (used with object)

• stokes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• stoked,
  past participle,  past
• stoking
  present participle

1. to poke, stir up, and feed (a fire).

2. to tend the fire of (a furnace, especially one used with a boiler to generate steam for an engine); supply with fuel.

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verb (used without object)

• stokes,
  present (3rd person singular)
• stoked,
  past participle,  past
• stoking
  present participle

1. to shake up the coals of a fire.

2. to tend a fire or furnace.

stoke ² American  

[stohk] / stoʊk /

noun

Physics.

1. a unit of kinematic viscosity, equal to the viscosity of a fluid in poises divided by the density of the fluid in grams per cubic centimeter.

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stoke British  

/ stəʊk /

verb

1. to feed, stir, and tend (a fire, furnace, etc)

2. (tr) to tend the furnace of; act as a stoker for

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

Participles

• stoking
  present
• stoked
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• stoke
  simple
• stokes
  simple
• have stoked
  perfect
• has stoked
  perfect
• am stoking
  progressive
• are stoking
  progressive
• is stoking
  progressive
• have been stoking
  perfect progressive
• has been stoking
  perfect progressive

Past

• stoked
  simple
• had stoked
  perfect
• was stoking
  progressive
• were stoking
  progressive
• had been stoking
  perfect progressive

Future

• will stoke
  simple
• will have stoked
  perfect
• will be stoking
  progressive
• will have been stoking
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of stoke¹

1675–85; < Dutch stoken to feed or stock a fire; see stock

Origin of stoke²

After Sir G. Stokes

Explanation

To stoke is to poke a fire and fuel it so that it burns higher. Stoke can also mean "incite" — a principal's impassive silence in the face of requests for more tater tots might stoke the flames of student anger. When a surfer says, "I am so stoked," it means she is excited — the fire of enthusiasm is burning hotter. It's interesting to reflect on how many words in our language have to do with the tending of fires, an activity that has become much less common in recent human history.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

stoke stokes stoked stoking

Reading gave him a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction that followed him into early adulthood — a penchant he would like to stoke in his fans.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026

Plenty of internet pundits, however, have kept their eye on this and continued to deliberately stoke the anger themselves.

From Slate ● Aug. 3, 2026

Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh, in his second day of Congressional testimony, declined to associate himself with colleagues’ warnings that the AI investment boom could stoke inflation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026

They are expected to provide clarity and tamp down unwarranted panic, not stoke conspiracy theories.

From Salon ● Jul. 13, 2026

Kendra sat beside Seth on the sofa, watching Grandpa stoke the fire.

From "Fablehaven" by Brandon Mull

Extreme weather also stokes inflation, primarily by hitting agricultural production and increasing food prices.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026

“Geopolitical tension should drive safe-haven buying, but when it spikes oil, it stokes inflation, which pushes the Fed to tighten — and that’s gold’s kryptonite,” he said, referring to gold’s weakness.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026

A pattern emerges: The crowd suspects a problem, then Pangram validates the suspicion, stokes the mob, and sells the solution.

From Slate ● Apr. 17, 2026

The company also hiked its outlook for the current fiscal year as the artificial-intelligence boom stokes demand.

From Barron's ● Dec. 2, 2025

“Whoever stokes the fire during the night gets an extra pancake in the morning,” he said.

From "Touching Spirit Bear" by Ben Mikaelsen

“But I’m so stoked that I got to go in. I blacked out, I don’t even know what I was thinking, I’m just glad I got to prove myself.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 2, 2026

Earlier this week, oil prices hit $100 a barrel for the first time since May, as the renewed fighting stoked fears over global energy supplies.

From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026

The 10-year yield rose 0.029 percentage point to 4.657%, its second-highest level for this year, as the oil surge stoked inflation fears.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026

Meanwhile, Fed governor Christopher Waller stoked concerns over an early interest rate hike as inflation continues to remain elevated.

From Barron's ● Jul. 14, 2026

He was humming merrily as he stoked the fire.

From "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by J.K. Rowling

Oil prices hit $100 a barrel for the first time since May on Thursday after several days of increases, stoking fears of higher inflation and a lower likelihood of interest rate cuts.

From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026

The Beijing-based startup claims that the model outperforms some cutting-edge U.S. systems, stoking what some analysts called “DeepSeek 2.0 concerns”—a nod to the rival Chinese AI startup that upended global markets early last year.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026

A broad-based tech selloff accelerated Tuesday as memory-chip stocks retreated, stoking skepticism about the artificial-intelligence trade.

From Barron's ● Jun. 23, 2026

Last week, Salesforce announced the acquisition of customer-agent company Fin for roughly $3.6 billion, further stoking investor discontent.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 22, 2026

Joon, stoking the fire in the cookstove, looked over her shoulder and said, “What? No. Isn’t she in your cabin?”

From "Orphan Island" by Laurel Snyder

Related Words

• feed
• stir