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 • Feb. 12, 2023

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 • Sep. 24, 2020

This would be a plan for the wedding of the stream and the mine, the white coal with the black.

From Conservation Through Engineering Extract from the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior by Lane, Franklin K.

It generally takes the stranger by surprise to see a grateful of white coal burning brightly, and throwing out smoke at the same time.

From The Land of the Kangaroo Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey through the Great Island Continent by Knox, Thomas Wallace

Hence the waterfalls are sometimes termed the "white coal" of that country.

From Marvels of Scientific Invention An Interesting Account in Non-technical Language of the Invention of Guns, Torpedoes, Submarine Mines, Up-to-date Smelting, Freezing, Colour Photography, and many other recent Discoveries of Science by Corbin, Thomas W.