different between coal vs chaldron

English

Etymology

From Middle English cole, from Old English col, from Proto-West Germanic *kol, from Proto-Germanic *kul? (compare West Frisian koal, Dutch kool, German Kohle, Danish kul), from *?welH- (“to burn, shine”).

Compare Old Irish gúal (“coal”), Lithuanian žvìlti (“to twinkle, glow”), Persian ????? (zo?âl, “live coal”), Sanskrit ????? (jval, “to burn, glow”), Tocharian B ?oliye (“hearth”), all from the same root.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /k??l/, /k??l/
• Rhymes: -??l
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ko?l/
• Homophones: cole, kohl

Noun

coal (countable and uncountable, plural coals)

1. (uncountable) A black rock formed from prehistoric plant remains, composed largely of carbon and burned as a fuel.

   Put some coal on the fire.

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 type of coal, such as bituminous, anthracite, or lignite, and grades and varieties thereof.
4. (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.

5. Charcoal.

Hyponyms

• anthracite, bitumen

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Hausa: kwal

Related terms

Translations

Verb

coal (third-person singular simple present coals, present participle coaling, simple past and past participle coaled)

1. (intransitive) To take on a supply of coal (usually of steam ships).
   • 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.

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

3. (intransitive) To be converted to charcoal.
   • 2014, Ken Mudge and Steve Gabriel, Farming the Woods

     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.
4. (transitive) To burn to charcoal; to char.
   • 1622, Francis Bacon, Natural History

     Char-coal of roots, coaled into great pieces.

5. (transitive) To mark or delineate with charcoal.

References

coal in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• ALCO, Acol, COLA, Calo, Caló, LCAO, LOCA, alco, alco-, cola, loca

English

Etymology

French chaudron. Doublet of cauldron.

Noun

chaldron (plural chaldrons)

1. (archaic) An old English dry measure, containing four quarters. At London, 36 bushels heaped up, or its equivalent weight, and more than twice as much at Newcastle. Now used exclusively for coal and coke.
   • 1882, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, volume 4, p. 208.

     The celdra or chaldron is employed in some places, especially at Finchale or Wearmouth. It appears to contain four quarters or thereabouts, and is perhaps the original measure of which the quarter is a fraction.

   • ????, De Colange.

     In the United States the chaldron is ordinarily 2,940 lbs, but at New York it is 2,500 lbs.

Anagrams

• chlordan, chondral