coal : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: coal	by the DICT Development Group
5 results for coal
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
coal n fossil fuel consisting of carbonized vegetable matter deposited in the Carboniferous period a hot fragment of wood or coal that is left from a fire and is glowing or smoldering Synonym(s): ember, coal v burn to charcoal; "Without a drenching rain, the forest fire will char everything" Synonym(s): char, coal supply with coal take in coal; "The big ship coaled"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Coal \Coal\, n. [AS. col; akin to D. kool, OHG. chol, cholo, G. kohle, Icel. kol, pl., Sw. kol, Dan. kul; cf. Skr. jval to burn. Cf. {Kiln}, {Collier}.] 1. A thoroughly charred, and extinguished or still ignited, fragment from wood or other combustible substance; charcoal. 2. (Min.) A black, or brownish black, solid, combustible substance, dug from beds or veins in the earth to be used for fuel, and consisting, like charcoal, mainly of carbon, but more compact, and often affording, when heated, a large amount of volatile matter. Note: This word is often used adjectively, or as the first part of self-explaining compounds; as, coal-black; coal formation; coal scuttle; coal ship. etc. Note: In England the plural coals is used, for the broken mineral coal burned in grates, etc.; as, to put coals on the fire. In the United States the singular in a collective sense is the customary usage; as, a hod of coal. {Age of coal plants}. See {Age of Acrogens}, under {Acrogen}. {Anthracite} or {Glance coal}. See {Anthracite}. {Bituminous coal}. See under {Bituminous}. {Blind coal}. See under {Blind}. {Brown coal}, [or] {Lignite}. See {Lignite}. {Caking coal}, a bituminous coal, which softens and becomes pasty or semi-viscid when heated. On increasing the heat, the volatile products are driven off, and a coherent, grayish black, cellular mass of coke is left. {Cannel coal}, a very compact bituminous coal, of fine texture and dull luster. See {Cannel coal}. {Coal bed} (Geol.), a layer or stratum of mineral coal. {Coal breaker}, a structure including machines and machinery adapted for crushing, cleansing, and assorting coal. {Coal field} (Geol.), a region in which deposits of coal occur. Such regions have often a basinlike structure, and are hence called {coal basins}. See {Basin}. {Coal gas}, a variety of carbureted hydrogen, procured from bituminous coal, used in lighting streets, houses, etc., and for cooking and heating. {Coal heaver}, a man employed in carrying coal, and esp. in putting it in, and discharging it from, ships. {Coal measures}. (Geol.) (a) Strata of coal with the attendant rocks. (b) A subdivision of the carboniferous formation, between the millstone grit below and the Permian formation above, and including nearly all the workable coal beds of the world. {Coal oil}, a general name for mineral oils; petroleum. {Coal plant} (Geol.), one of the remains or impressions of plants found in the strata of the coal formation. {Coal tar}. See in the Vocabulary. {To haul over the coals}, to call to account; to scold or censure. [Colloq.] {Wood coal}. See {Lignite}.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Coal \Coal\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Coaled}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Coaling}.] 1. To burn to charcoal; to char. [R.] Charcoal of roots, coaled into great pieces. --Bacon. 2. To mark or delineate with charcoal. --Camden. 3. To supply with coal; as, to coal a steamer.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Coal \Coal\, v. i. To take in coal; as, the steamer coaled at Southampton.
From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:
Coal It is by no means certain that the Hebrews were acquainted with mineral coal, although it is found in Syria. Their common fuel was dried dung of animals and wood charcoal. Two different words are found in Hebrew to denote coal, both occurring in Prov. 26:21, "As coal [Heb. peham; i.e., "black coal"] is to burning coal [Heb. gehalim]." The latter of these words is used in Job 41:21; Prov. 6:28; Isa. 44:19. The words "live coal" in Isa. 6:6 are more correctly "glowing stone." In Lam. 4:8 the expression "blacker than a coal" is literally rendered in the margin of the Revised Version "darker than blackness." "Coals of fire" (2 Sam. 22:9, 13; Ps. 18:8, 12, 13, etc.) is an expression used metaphorically for lightnings proceeding from God. A false tongue is compared to "coals of juniper" (Ps. 120:4; James 3:6). "Heaping coals of fire on the head" symbolizes overcoming evil with good. The words of Paul (Rom. 12:20) are equivalent to saying, "By charity and kindness thou shalt soften down his enmity as surely as heaping coals on the fire fuses the metal in the crucible."