v. t. [ OE. stoken, fr. D. stoken, fr. stok a stick (cf. OF. estoquier to thrust, stab; of Teutonic origin, and akin to D. stok). See Stock. ] 1. To stick; to thrust; to stab. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Nor short sword for to stoke, with point biting. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To poke or stir up, as a fire; hence, to tend, as the fire of a furnace, boiler, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To poke or stir up a fire; hence, to tend the fires of furnaces, steamers, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Naut.) The space, or any of the spaces, in front of the boilers of a ship, from which the furnaces are fed; the stokehole of a ship; also, a room containing a ship's boilers; as, forced draft with closed stokehold; -- called also, in American ships, fireroom. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. The mouth to the grate of a furnace; also, the space in front of the furnace, where the stokers stand. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ D. See Stoke, v. t. ] 1. One who is employed to tend a furnace and supply it with fuel, especially the furnace of a locomotive or of a marine steam boiler; also, a machine for feeding fuel to a fire. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A fire poker. [ R. ] C. Richardson (Dict.). [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Close; sultry. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]