fuel
See also: fül
English
Etymology
From Middle English fewell, from Old French fouaille, feuaille (“firewood, kindling”), from feu (“fire”), from Late Latin focus (“fire”), from Latin focus (“hearth”). Cognate with Spanish fuego (“fire”), and Portuguese fogo (“fire”). Doublet of focus.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈfjuːəl/, /ˈfjʊəl/, /ˈfjuːl/
- (US) IPA(key): [ˈfjuwəɫ] (some speakers)
Audio (UK) (file)
- Rhymes: -ʊəl
Noun
fuel (countable and uncountable, plural fuels)
- Substance consumed to provide energy through combustion, or through chemical or nuclear reaction.
- 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion:
- More than a mere source of Promethean sustenance to thwart the cold and cook one's meat, wood was quite simply mankind's first industrial and manufacturing fuel.
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- Substance that provides nourishment for a living organism; food.
- (figuratively) Something that stimulates, encourages or maintains an action.
- His books were fuel for the revolution.
- Money is the fuel for economy.
- That film was nightmare fuel!
- 2006 June 15, “Ammunition: the fuel of conflict”, in Oxfam International:
- Small arms ammunition is the fuel that keeps many of the world’s conflicts raging.
Derived terms
Terms derived from fuel
- add fuel to fire
- add fuel to the fire
- add fuel to the flame
- alternative fuel
- aviation fuel
- biofuel
- biological fuel cell
- bunker fuel
- caramel fuel
- e-fuel
- enzymatic fuel cell
- fossil fuel
- fuel cap
- fuel cell
- fuel cell vehicle
- fuel economy
- fuel filter
- fuel gauge
- fuel injection
- fuel load
- fuel molecule
- fuel-poor
- fuel poverty
- fuel pump
- fuel rod
- fuel station
- fuel tank
- fuel up
- hog fuel
- jet fuel
- microbial fuel cell
- nightmare fuel
- nuclear fuel
- patent fuel
- pour fuel on the fire
- solid fuel
- specific fuel consumption
- top fuel
Translations
substance consumed to provide energy
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substance that provides nourishment
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figurative: something that stimulates
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Verb
fuel (third-person singular simple present fuels, present participle (US) fueling or fuelling, simple past and past participle (US) fueled or fuelled)
- To provide with fuel.
- 1959 May, “Talking of Trains: By diesel m.u. to Moorgate”, in Trains Illustrated, page 235:
- The workings now employ ten twin-units, which are fuelled at Hornsey but return to Cambridge diesel depot for their weekly maintenance; [...].
-
- To exacerbate, to cause to grow or become greater.
Usage notes
- Fuelled and fuelling are Commonwealth spellings. Fueled and fueling are US spellings and common in Canada.
Translations
to provide with fuel
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to exacerbate, to cause to grow or become greater
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Anagrams
- flue, fule
French
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English fuel.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /fjul/
Noun
fuel m (plural fuels)
- Alternative form of fioul
Further reading
- “fuel”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Middle English
Noun
fuel
- Alternative form of fewell
Spanish
Etymology
Borrowed from English fuel.
Noun
fuel m (plural fueles)
- fuel oil
Further reading
- “fuel”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014