Definition: coal

Source: WordNet (r) 1.7

coal
     n 1: fossil fuel consisting of carbonized vegetable matter
          deposited in the Carboniferous period
     2: a hot glowing or smouldering fragment of wood or coal left
        from a fire [syn: ember]
     v 1: burn to charcoal; "Without a drenching rain, the forest fire
          will char everything." [syn: char]
     2: supply with coal
     3: take in coal, as of a ship

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

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.

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.

Coal \Coal\, v. i.
   To take in coal; as, the steamer coaled at Southampton.

Source: Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary

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."