charcoal

Etymology

From Middle English charcole, from charren (“to change, turn”) + cole (“coal”), from Old English cierran (“to change, turn”) + col (“coal”); equivalent to char (Etymology 3 (verb)) + coal.

noun

1. (countable, uncountable) impure carbon obtained by destructive distillation of wood or other organic matter, that is, heating it in the absence of oxygen.
   But through the oligopoly, charcoal fuel proliferated throughout London's trades and industries. By the 1200s, brewers and bakers, tilemakers, glassblowers, pottery producers, and a range of other craftsmen all became hour-to-hour consumers of charcoal. 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion
2. (countable) A stick of black carbon material used for drawing.
   He takes the prepared charcoal used by artists, brings it to a white heat, and suddenly plunges it in a bath of mercury, of which the globules instantly penetrate the pores of charcoal, and may be said to metallize it. 1879, Th Du Moncel, The Telephone, the Microphone and the Phonograph, page 166
3. (countable) A drawing made with charcoal.
4. A very dark gray colour.
   charcoal:

adj

1. Of a dark gray colour.
2. Made of charcoal.
   But through the oligopoly, charcoal fuel proliferated throughout London's trades and industries. By the 1200s, brewers and bakers, tilemakers, glassblowers, pottery producers, and a range of other craftsmen all became hour-to-hour consumers of charcoal. 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion

verb

1. To draw with charcoal.
2. To cook over charcoal.