coal
/koul/
Definition
Noun:
- A black or dark-brown combustible mineral substance: A hard, black or dark-brown rock that is primarily carbon, formed from the remains of ancient vegetation, and used as a fuel.
- A piece of this substance, especially one burning: A glowing or charred piece of carbon material, such as one taken from a fire.
Verb:
- To supply with coal: To provide a ship, engine, or furnace with coal as fuel.
- To take on coal as fuel: For a ship or engine to receive and load its supply of coal.
- To burn or convert into charcoal: To char or carbonize by burning.
Usage Examples
- Noun:
- The power plant generates electricity by burning coal.
- He added another lump of coal to the furnace.
- Verb:
- The steamship stopped at the port to coal.
- The intense heat will coal the wood, turning it into charcoal.
Advanced Usage
- To carry coals to Newcastle: To supply something to a place where it is already abundant; to do something superfluous.
- Selling ice in Antarctica is like carrying coals to Newcastle.
- To haul/rake/drag someone over the coals: To reprimand or criticize someone severely.
- The manager hauled the employee over the coals for the mistake.
- To heap coals of fire on someone's head: To repay evil with good, making the wrongdoer feel ashamed or remorseful through kindness.
- By helping his rival, he was heaping coals of fire on his head.
Variants and Related Words
- Coaly (adj): Resembling or containing coal.
- Coal bed (n): A stratum or layer of coal.
- Coal mine (n): An excavation made for the purpose of extracting coal.
- Charcoal (n): A black, porous form of carbon obtained by partially burning wood or other organic matter in a controlled, low-oxygen environment.
Synonyms
- Fuel (n): Material burned to produce heat or power.
- Ember (n): A small, glowing piece of coal or wood in a dying fire.
- Carbon (n): A chemical element that is a primary component of coal.
Related Phrasal Verbs
- Coal up (v): To take on a supply of coal.
- The locomotive needs to coal up before the long journey.
Related Idioms
- As black as coal: Extremely black or dark.
- The night was as black as coal.
Noun
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a hot fragment of wood or coal that is left from a fire and is glowing or smoldering
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fossil fuel consisting of carbonized vegetable matter deposited in the Carboniferous period
Verb
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take in coal
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The big ship coaled
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supply with coal
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burn to charcoal
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Without a drenching rain, the forest fire will char everything
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