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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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
Brown 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Coaled p. pr. & vb. n. Coaling. ] 1. To burn to charcoal; to char. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Charcoal of roots, coaled into great pieces. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To mark or delineate with charcoal. Camden. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To supply with coal; as, to coal a steamer. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To take in coal; as, the steamer coaled at Southampton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a bin for holding coal.
Syn. -- coalhole. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. As black as coal; jet black; very black. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Obs. ] See Colliery. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Coalesced p. pr. & vb. n. Coalescing. ] [ L. coalescere, coalitium; co- + alescere to grow up, incho. fr. alere to nourish. See Aliment, n. ] 1. To grow together; to unite by growth into one body; as, the parts separated by a wound coalesce. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To unite in one body or product; to combine into one body or community; as, vapors coalesce. [ 1913 Webster ]

The Jews were incapable of coalescing with other nations. Campbell. [ 1913 Webster ]

Certain combinations of ideas that, once coalescing, could not be shaken loose. De Quincey.

Syn. -- See Add. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. joined together into a whole.
Syn. -- amalgamate, amalgamated, consolidated, fused. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. The act or state of growing together, as similar parts; the act of uniting by natural affinity or attraction; the state of being united; union; concretion. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. coalescens, p. pr. ] Growing together; cohering, as in the organic cohesion of similar parts; uniting. [ 1913 Webster ]