white coal

American  

noun

1. Informal. water, as of a stream, used for power.

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white coal British  

noun

1. water, esp when flowing and providing a potential source of usable power

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Etymology

Origin of white coal

First recorded in 1880–85

Example Sentences

He used white coal ash for the lines.

From Seattle Times

Instead, the Appalachia portrayed in popular culture tends to be largely associated with stories of white coal miners and their families, a narrative that several scholars, sociologists, artists and residents, Ms. Miller among them, have been working hard to shift.

From New York Times

It features both the Carter Family’s foundational rural twang and Mississippi John Hurt’s sweet blues music; and mixes Southern Black jug bands with banjo-playing white coal miners.

From Los Angeles Times

That, too, has been a central message of this modern effort, as Dr. Barber has argued that the struggles of white coal miners overlap with those of black factory workers.

From New York Times

The institution of slavery was actually existent in Christian Scotland in the 17th century, where the white coal workers and salt workers of East Lothian were chattels, as were their negro brethren in the Southern States thirty years since; they “went to those who succeeded to the property of the works, and they could be sold, bartered, or pawned.”

From Project Gutenberg