charcoal

From Middle English charcole, from charren (“to change, turn”) + cole (“coal”), from Old English cierran (“to change, turn”) + col (“coal”); equivalent to char (Etymology 3 (verb)) +‎ coal.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtʃɑː.kəʊl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtʃɑɹ.koʊl/

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charcoal (usually uncountable, plural charcoals)

1. (countable, uncountable) Impure carbon obtained by destructive distillation of wood or other organic matter, that is to say, heating it in the absence of oxygen.
   • 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion‎:

     But through the oligopoly, charcoal fuel proliferated throughout London's trades and industries.  By the 1200s, brewers and bakers, tilemakers, glassblowers, pottery producers, and a range of other craftsmen all became hour-to-hour consumers of charcoal.

2. (countable) A stick of black carbon material used for drawing.
   • 1879, Th Du Moncel, The Telephone, the Microphone and the Phonograph, page 166:

     He takes the prepared charcoal used by artists, brings it to a white heat, and suddenly plunges it in a bath of mercury, of which the globules instantly penetrate the pores of charcoal, and may be said to metallize it.

3. (countable) A drawing made with charcoal.
4. A very dark gray colour.

   charcoal colour:  

charcoal (comparative more charcoal, superlative most charcoal)

1. Of a dark gray colour.
2. Made of charcoal.
   • 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion‎:

     But through the oligopoly, charcoal fuel proliferated throughout London's trades and industries.  By the 1200s, brewers and bakers, tilemakers, glassblowers, pottery producers, and a range of other craftsmen all became hour-to-hour consumers of charcoal.

charcoal (third-person singular simple present charcoals, present participle charcoaling, simple past and past participle charcoaled)

1. To draw with charcoal.
2. To cook over charcoal.