coal

Etymology

From Middle English cole, from Old English col, from Proto-West Germanic *kol, from Proto-Germanic *kulą (compare West Frisian koal, Dutch kool, German Kohle, Danish kul), from *ǵwelH- (“to burn, shine”). Compare Old Irish gúal (“coal”), Lithuanian žvìlti (“to twinkle, glow”), Persian زغال (zoğâl, “live coal”), Sanskrit ज्वल् (jval, “to burn, glow”), Tocharian B śoliye (“hearth”), all from the same root.

noun

1. (uncountable) A black or brownish black rock formed from prehistoric plant remains, composed largely of carbon and burned as a fuel.
   The coal in this region was prized by ironmasters in centuries past, who mined it in the spots where the drainage methods of the day permitted.
   Coal-eaters they may have been, but a more willing or harder working Atlantic engine was never designed. 1947 January and February, O. S. Nock, “"The Aberdonian" in Wartime”, in Railway Magazine, pages 3, 5
   1. (countable) A type of coal, such as bituminous, anthracite, or lignite, and grades and varieties thereof, as a fuel commodity ready to buy and burn.
      See also: stockpile
      Put some coal on the fire.
      Order some coal from the coalyard.
2. (countable) A piece of coal used for burning (this use is less common in American English)
   Put some coals on the fire.
3. (countable) A glowing or charred piece of coal, wood, or other solid fuel.
   Just as the camp-fire died down to just coals, with no flames to burn the marshmallows, someone dumped a whole load of wood on, so I gave up and went to bed.
4. charcoal.

verb

1. (intransitive) To take on a supply of coal (usually of steam ships or locomotives).
   1863, Colonial Secretary to Commander Baldwin, USN shortly after that she coaled again at Simon's Bay; and that after remaining in the neighbourhood of our ports for a time, she proceeded to Mauritius, where she coaled again, and then returned to this colony.
   Our next stopping-place was Newcastle, and here we coaled in earnest, for the steamer was flying light, and was loaded up in every available place. 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 131
   The light shook and splintered in the puddles. A red glare came from an outward-bound steamer that was coaling. 1890, Oscar Wilde, chapter XVI, in The Picture of Dorian Gray
   N.W.R. four-cylinder 4-6-2 class "XS1," No. 761, coaling at Delhi junction. This class is the most powerful passenger engine in India. 1949 November and December, Railway Magazine, page 371 (photo caption)
2. (transitive) To supply with coal.
   to coal a steamer
   January 1917, National Geographic Magazine, Volume 31 Number 1, One Hundred British Seaports Cruisers may be coaled at sea and provided with ammunition openly. The submarine may not
   After working the 1.30 p.m. through train from Forres to Aberdeen as far as Elgin, she returns tender first with a local passenger train and is then coaled and watered at Forres shed, and eventually works back to Perth on the 10.20 p.m. through freight. 1944 January and February, W. McGowan Gradon, “Forres as a Railway Centre”, in Railway Magazine, page 23
3. (intransitive) To be converted to charcoal.
   After the initial burn the goal of any good fire should be coaling; that is, creating a bed of solid coals that will sustain the fire. 2014, Ken Mudge, Steve Gabriel, Farming the Woods
   As a result, particles of wood and twigs insufficiently coaled are frequently found at the bottom of such pits. 1957, H.R. Schubert, History of the British Iron and Steel Industry, page 18
4. (transitive) To burn to charcoal; to char.
   Char-coal of roots, coaled into great pieces. 1622, Francis Bacon, Natural History
5. (transitive) To mark or delineate with charcoal.
   […] marvailing, he coaled out these rithms upon the wall near to the picture 1551, William Camden, Remains concerning Britain