King James Bible Dictionary

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 Proverbs 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; Proverbs 6:28; Isaiah 44:19. The words "live coal" in Isaiah 6:6 are more correctly "glowing stone." In Lamentations 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 Samuel 22:9, 13; Psalms 18:8, 12, 13, etc.) is an expression used metaphorically for lightnings proceeding from God. A false tongue is compared to "coals of juniper" (Psalms 120:4; James 3:6). "Heaping coals of fire on the head" symbolizes overcoming evil with good. The words of Paul (Romans 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."

Figurative
Proverbs 25:22

Symbolic
Isaiah 6:6-7; 2 Samuel 14:7

The first and most frequent use of the word rendered coal is a live ember, burning fuel. (Proverbs 26:21) In (2 Samuel 22:9,13) "coals of fire" are put metaphorically for the lightnings proceeding from God. (Psalms 18:8,12,13; 140:10) In (Proverbs 26:21) fuel not yet lighted is clearly signified. The fuel meant in the above passage is probably charcoal, and not coal in our sense of the word.

COAL, noun

1. A piece of wood, or other combustible substance, ignited, burning, or charred. When burning or ignited, it is called a live coal or burning coal or coal of fire. When the fire is extinct, it is called charcoal.

2. In the language of chimists, any substance containing oil, which has been exposed to a fire in a close vessel, so that its volatile matter is expelled, and it can sustain a red heat without further decomposition.

3. In mineralogy, a solid, opake, inflammable substance, found in the earth, and by way of distinction called fossil coal It is divided by recent mineralogists into three species, anthracite or glance coal black or bituminous coal and brown coal or lignite; under which are included many varieties, such as cannel coal bovey coal jet, etc.

COAL, verb transitive

1. To burn to coal or charcoal; to char.

2. To mark or delineate with charcoal.

See Oil
Oil

COAL-BLACK, adjective Black as a coal; very black.

COAL-BOX, noun A box to carry coal to the fire.

COALERY, noun A coal-mine, coal-pit, or place where coals are dug, with the engines and machinery used in discharging the water and raising the coal.

COALESCE, verb intransitive

1. To grow together; to unite, as separate bodies, or separate parts, into one body, as separate bones in an infant, or the fingers or toes.

2. To unite and adhere in one body or mass, by spontaneous approximation or attraction; as, vapors coalesce

3. To unite in society, in a more general sense,

The Jews were incapable of coalescing with other nations.

COALESCENCE, noun The act of growing together; the act of uniting by natural affinity or attraction; the state of being united; union; concretion.

COALESCING, participle present tense Growing or coming together; uniting in a body or mass; uniting and adhering together.

COAL-FISH, noun A species of Gadus or cod, named from the color of its back. It grows to the length of two feet, or two and a half, and weighs about thirty pounds. This fish is found in great numbers about the Orkneys, and the northern parts of Britain.

COAL-HOUSE, noun A house or shed for keeping coal.

COALIER.

COALITE, verb transitive To unite or coalesce.

COALITION, noun

1. Union in a body or mass; a coming together, as of separate bodies or parts, and their union in one body or mass; as, a coalition of atoms or particles.

2. Union of individual persons, parties or states.

COALLIER. [See Collier.]

COAL-MINE, noun A mine or pit in which coal is dug.

COAL-MINER, noun One who works in a coal-mine.

COAL-MOUSE, noun A small species of titmouse, with a black head.

COAL-PIT, noun A pit where coal is dug. In America, a place where charcoal is made.

COAL-SHIP, noun A ship employed in transporting coal.

COAL-STONE, noun A kind of cannel-coal.

COAL-WORK, noun A coalery; a place where coal is dug, including the machinery for raising the coal.

COALY, adjective Like coal; containing coal.