- [uncountable]
a hard black mineral that is found below the ground and burnt to produce heat 煤 I put more coal on the fire. 我往火里加了些煤。 a lump of coal 一块煤 coal mining 采煤业 She sat by the coal fire in the kitchen. 她坐在厨房的煤火旁。 Plans were being drawn up for the privatization of the coal industry. 正在起草煤炭工业私有化的计划。 These men had spent their lives breathing coal dust. 这些人一辈子呼吸着煤尘。
Culture coal miningcoal miningCoal was very important in the economic development of Britain. It was used as fuel in the factories built during the Industrial Revolution and continued to be important until the 1980s. The main coalfields (= areas where coal is mined) were in north-east England, the north Midlands and the valleys of South Wales, especially the Rhondda Valley. Towns and villages grew around the collieries or pits (= coal mines) and were dominated by the pithead where the lifting machines were, and by large black slag heaps (= piles of waste material). Poor conditions and low pay led to a long history of industrial trouble and caused miners to play a leading role in the development of the trade union movement.In 1913 Britain produced 292 million tons of coal and employed over a million miners. In 1947, when the mines were nationalized (= brought under government control), there were still about 1 000 collieries and 700 000 miners. Increased use of North Sea oil and gas in the 1970s led to a lower demand for coal. Coal gas was replaced by natural gas. By the middle of the 1980s there were only 160 collieries and 200 000 miners. Fear of further job losses led to the long and violent miners' strike of 1984–5. In the 1990s more mines were closed. In mining communities throughout Britain thousands of former miners struggled to find new jobs. Collieries returned to being owned by private companies in 1994, and most coal now produced in Britain is sold to the electricity-generating industry. The US is the world's second largest producer of coal and most is mined in the Appalachian Mountains. Modern mining techniques used in West Virginia have removed whole mountain tops and destroyed large areas of forest. Coal is used especially in the electricity-generating industry and in the making of steel. However, the industry is in decline and several of the largest mining companies have gone out of business since 2015 as electricity is increasingly generated in other ways.Extra ExamplesTopics The environmentb1There are substantial reserves of methane gas trapped in coal seams in the area. 该地区煤层之中贮有大量的甲烷气体。 opencast coal mining 露天采煤 Put some more coal on the fire. 往火里再加些煤。
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- clean
- smokeless
- hard
- …
- lump
- piece
- mine
- produce
- burn
- …
- burn
- fire
- mine
- pit
- …
- [countable]
a piece of coal, especially one that is burning （尤指燃烧着的）煤块 A hot coal fell out of the fire and burnt the carpet. 一块燃烧着的煤块从火炉里掉出来把地毯烧了。 Red-hot coals glowed in the fireplace. 壁炉中烧红的煤炭闪着光。
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- burning
- glowing
- hot
- …
- glow
Word OriginOld English col (in the senses ‘glowing ember’ and ‘charred remnant’), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch kool and German Kohle. The sense ‘combustible mineral used as fuel’ dates from Middle English.
Idioms
carry, take, etc. coals to Newcastle
- (British English)
to take goods to a place where there are already plenty of them; to supply something where it is not needed 多此一举
haul somebody over the coals (British English)
(North American English rake somebody over the coals)
to criticize somebody severely because they have done something wrong 严厉训斥（或斥责）某人 I was hauled over the coals by my boss for being late. 我因迟到被老板严厉训斥。