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fuel

[fyoo-uhl]

Example Sentences Origin

noun

combustible matter used to maintain fire, as coal, wood, oil, or gas, in order to create heat or power.

something that gives nourishment; food.

an energy source for engines, power plants, or reactors: Kerosene is used as jet engine fuel.

something that sustains or encourages; stimulant: Our discussion provided him with fuel for debate.

verb (used with object)

to supply with fuel.

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Fuel is one of our favorite verbs.

So is peculate. Does it mean:

to flee; abscond:

to steal or take dishonestly (money, esp. public funds, or property entrusted to one's care); embezzle.

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verb (used without object)

to obtain or replenish fuel.

Origin:
1300–50; Middle English fuel(le), feuel < Old French feuaile < Vulgar Latin *focālia, neuter plural of *focālis of the hearth, fuel. See focus, -al¹

Related forms

fu·el·er, fu·el·ler, noun

de·fu·el, verb (used with object), -eled, -el·ing or (especially British) -elled, -el·ling.

non·fu·el, adjective

un·fu·eled, adjective

un·fu·elled, adjective

EXPAND

well-fu·eled, adjective

well-fu·elled, adjective

COLLAPSE

Synonyms
4. ammunition, sustenance, impetus, stimulus.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To fuel

Example Sentences

Dangerous conditions can occur if water drains from pools storing radioactive fuel rods.

With gasoline prices high again, universities are looking for ways to reduce their long-term reliance on the fuel.

Over the past few years engineers have been designing fuel cells that will be useful outside space agencies.

EXPAND

Dangerous conditions can occur if water drains from pools storing radioactive fuel rods.

With gasoline prices high again, universities are looking for ways to reduce their long-term reliance on the fuel.

Over the past few years engineers have been designing fuel cells that will be useful outside space agencies.

With rising fuel costs, automotive efficiency has become a primary concern for many new vehicle buyers.

Water won't aid fuel economy in today's cars, but it may help power the hydrogen cars of tomorrow.

The reactor can be shut down by moving control rods into place around the fuel.

The inn's generous breakfast will fuel your own hikes along the mountain's forested slopes.

Everybody's talking about micro fuel cells and their potential, but there are no actual products.

Until recently, the cold-weather performance of fuel cells was a work in progress.

Even if the water leaked away, the fuel wouldn't get hot enough to melt.

As a source of power for cars, fuel cells have been a disappointment.

As truck fleets and policy makers aim to curb big rig fuel consumption, the secret weapon is driver behavior.

Solid oxide fuel cells that can use conventional fossil fuels as well as hydrogen are set to take a larger.

Tennessee to process the fuel for the bomb to end the war and the science that evolved.

Avoid providing fire with extra fuel and pathways to your house via wooden trellises, fences, or sheds.

Senate debate over automobile fuel standards boils down to dueling statistics and, of course, politics.

Railroads and trucking companies said their first-quarter results were affected by rising fuel costs.

They started discussing the price of gas when he suddenly doused her with the fuel and set her alight.

Hydrogen, which can be made electrolytically from water and used to power fuel cells, is difficult to handle.

Watermelon, the quintessential summer fruit, may soon be helping to fuel your car as well as your picnic guests.

Nuclear waste is either a millennia's worth of lethal garbage or the fuel of future nuclear reactors--or both.

Whether it's a dramatic museum heist or opportunistic house-burglary, all of them fuel a lucrative black market.

To incinerate some materials, extra fuel needs to be added.

The fuel cell uses microbes to extract electricity.

Fuel prices have plunged, the world economy is in a tailspin and airlines are running all kinds of promotions to fill empty seats.

Discovering an economical and environmentally cleaner alternative to fossil fuel.

Surely also water is added to aviation fuel as it enters the engine.

Fuel cells create electricity from chemical reactions.

With no permanent waste repository in sight, the nuclear industry is storing spent fuel at reactor sites.

The lab is still used for nuclear research, as well as research into hydrogen fuel cells and supercomputers.

Europe's aviation establishment continues to push the limits of fuel cell technology.

But they are not necessarily for everyoneA fuel co-op is a.

For example, in many areas of the world, wood is used for fuel.

There is no denying their promise: clean-burning fuel that could reduce a country's dependence on foreign.

Farms can slash their fossil fuel use and still turn a profit, all with the help of more complex crop rotation.

When trying to maximize fuel economy, some consider filling their tires with pure nitrogen instead of atmospheric.

Each item had to be scrupulously weighed because each cost its weight in fuel.

But the kerosene does not light right away, it boils off creating vaporized fuel.

The agreement to increase fuel economy standards is good news for car companies, consumers and the environment.

The region continues to suffer from power cuts and shortages of fuel and other necessities.

But though the reactors were closed down, some of their fuel was still around in storage ponds.

Nuclear energy is considered by many people to be the only realistic alternative to fossil fuel to power our civilization.

Plant-based fuel could be coming to a gas station near you.

Chemical fuel is out of the question-you could never store enough of it.

Power doesn't get made until gas gets released into the fuel cell stack.

There are some signs that the algae-based fuel industry might be ready to bloom.

Most cost calculations neglect the effect of diversifying our energy supply on fossil fuel prices.

All the more so when it is based on fuel cells that convert hydrogen direct to electricity without combustion.

Some fungi eat radiation to fuel their growth, a new study suggests.

To escape the earth's atmosphere, rockets need a lot of fuel.

The guest star was a supernova, a star that had run out of fuel and then collapsed in on itself in a thousandth of a second.

It is a sport of extremes, from the unconscionable amounts of fuel consumed to the.

Airlines are scrutinizing every step of their operations, searching for new ways to cut fuel bills.

Portugal is not alone in attempting to use education to fuel economic growth, of course.

And even were that not so, fuel is one of airlines' biggest costs, so there is a strong incentive to burn less of it.

And they say the advanced reactors that would run on that recycled fuel would mark a new level of progress on safety.

Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are vying with next-generation hybrid car technology.

In those days, only giant airships could carry enough fuel to make nonstop trans-Atlantic flights.

Hybrid car owners who thought they'd be getting much better fuel efficiency than conventional cars have been disappointed.

Using corn as fuel replaces only a small part of oil consumption.

They are the renewable human resources that fuel resilience.

Fewer onward flights means fewer fuel guzzling take-offs and landings.

Making fuel from crops could be good for the planet-after a breakthrough or two.

The vents fuel strange underwater ecosystems inhabited by giant worms, blind shrimp and sulfur-eating bacteria.

The fuel the piece consumes only amounts to an ounce or so of fuel per attendee at the event, they note.

Connecting with others can be intimidating, but the knowledge and insight you gain will be the fuel that powers your career.

Fuel cells are also being used to power unmanned surveillance drones.

But no other country burns as much coal to fuel its economy.

Using hydrogen to fuel cars may eventually slash oil consumption and carbon emissions, but it will take some time.

The two accidents were from the external rockets and the fuel tank replacements that were down designed to save money.

There are also fuel savings whereby students drive less miles to centralized campuses.

The government, long reluctant to raise fuel prices for fear of a backlash, has recently shown signs.

Can an energy-hungry world afford to wait for this fuel to clean.

Air-carpet hulls could sail faster, save fuel and cut emissions.

And bad publicity from financial misdeeds at colleges and other nonprofit organizations has helped fuel the fire.

Traditionally, fuel cells work best with a refined fuel containing synthetic sugars, such as glucose.

Burning fuel for power costs money, and fossil fuel markets can be heavily dependent on world events and local supply issues.

Corn-or the cellulose in everything from wood chips to crop stalks-are often touted as the basis of the fuel of the future.

Bowen and his colleagues put forward two arguments that are likely to fuel debate for several years.

These natural gases are used to heat homes and businesses and fuel stoves.

Also: electric fields increase fuel economy, sacrificial ants, explosive-free fertilizer and vanishing species.

Any hints of anger or frustration may only serve to fuel the negative behavior.

The greater an area's fuel load, the more intense the fire.

The new rules will boost fuel efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

At secular privates and big publics, the end is to produce docile consumer-citizens to fuel the late-capitalist market state.

To get the correct amount of fuel at the optimal time, stick to these strategies.

And even if drivers switch to more fuel-efficient cars and trucks, the nation's fuel needs are.

Innovation has sparked a boom in production of this low-carbon fuel.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

fuel (fjʊəl)

—n
1.	any substance burned as a source of heat or power, such as coal or petrol
2.	a. the material, containing a fissile substance, such as uranium-235, that produces energy in a nuclear reactor
	b. a substance that releases energy in a fusion reactor
3.	something that nourishes or builds up emotion, action, etc

—vb , fuels, fuelling, fuelled, fuels, fueling, fueled
4.	to supply with or receive fuel

[C14: from Old French feuaile, from feu fire, ultimately from Latin focus fireplace, hearth]

'fueller

—n

'fueler

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

fuel

c.1300, from O.Fr. feuaile "bundle of firewood," from M.L. legal term *focalia "right to demand material for making fire," neut. pl. of L. focus "hearth." As a verb from 1590s. Related: Fueled; fueling.

American Heritage

Science Dictionary

fuel (fy

'əl) Pronunciation Key
A substance that produces useful energy when it undergoes a chemical or nuclear reaction. Fuel such as coal, wood, oil, or gas provides energy when burned. Compounds in the body such as glucose are broken down into simpler compounds to provide energy for metabolic processes. Some radioactive substances, such as plutonium and tritium, provide energy by undergoing nuclear fission or fusion.

Easton

Bible Dictionary

Fuel definition

Almost every kind of combustible matter was used for fuel, such as the withered stalks of herbs (Matt. 6:30), thorns (Ps. 58:9; Eccl. 7:6), animal excrements (Ezek. 4:12-15; 15:4, 6; 21:32). Wood or charcoal is much used still in all the towns of Syria and Egypt. It is largely brought from the region of Hebron to Jerusalem. (See COAL.)

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

fuel

see add fuel to the fire.

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booster burnup char choke coal compression ignition

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take on fuel

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add fuel to the fire

Matching Quote

"Beware the/easy griefs, that fool and fuel nothing./It is too easy to cry "AFRIKA!"/and shock thy street,/and purse thy mouth,/and go home to thy "Gunsmoke," to/thy "Gilligan's Island" and the NFL."

-Gwendolyn Brooks

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