01 n. Impure carbon prepared from vegetable or animal substances; esp., coal made by charring wood in a kiln, retort, etc., from which air is exc…
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1.
Impure carbon prepared from vegetable or animal substances; esp., coal made by charring wood in a kiln, retort, etc., from which air is excluded. It is used for fuel and in various mechanical, artistic, and chemical processes.
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2.
Finely prepared charcoal in small sticks, used as a drawing implement.(Fine Arts)
Phrases & compounds
Animal charcoal —
a fine charcoal prepared by calcining bones in a closed vessel; -- used as a filtering agent in sugar refining, and as an absorbent and disinfectant.
Charcoal blacks —
the black pigment, consisting of burnt ivory, bone, cock, peach stones, and other substances.
Charcoal drawing —
a drawing made with charcoal. See Charcoal, 2. Until within a few years this material has been used almost exclusively for preliminary outline, etc., but at present many finished drawings are made with it.
Charcoal point —
a carbon pencil prepared for use in an electric light apparatus.
Mineral charcoal —
a term applied to silky fibrous layers of charcoal, interlaminated in beds of ordinary bituminous coal; -- known to miners as mother of coal.