fuel

plural fuels

1. countableuncountableSubstance consumed to provide energy through combustion, or through chemical or nuclear reaction.

   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.

   2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion

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   In a press release, CARB expanded on their decision. "The LCFS reduces air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions by setting a declining carbon intensity target for transportation fuels used in California; producers that don't meet established benchmarks buy credits from those that do. This system has generated $4 billion in annual private sector investment toward a cleaner transportation sector."

   2024 November 8, Luz Pena, “California's gas prices could have major increase with passing of new fuel standards”, in ABC7 News

2. countableuncountableSubstance that provides nourishment for a living organism; food.

   A little fuel to get down the mountain.

   2021 February 16, Charlie Berens and DudeDad, The 5 People on the Ski Slopes

3. countablefigurativelyuncountableSomething that stimulates, encourages or maintains an action.

   That film was nightmare fuel!

   3 more examples

   His books were fuel for the revolution.

   Money is the fuel for economy.

   Small arms ammunition is the fuel that keeps many of the world’s conflicts raging.

   2006 June 15, “Ammunition: the fuel of conflict”, in Oxfam International

present singular third person fuels · US participle present fueling · UK participle present fuelling · US participle past fueled · US past fueled · UK participle past fuelled · UK past fuelled

1. transitiveTo provide with fuel.

   "Well, we do need to keep some of it on hand, donchaknow. For fueling the cookfires and all that rot."

   2005, Harry Turtledove, Alternate Generals III, unnumbered page

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   […] Lieutenant Hirsch appeared with a sheaf of signals in his hand. He took these from the young man and read them through. Mostly they dealt with routine matters of the fuelling and victualling, but one from the Third Naval Member’s office was unexpected.

   1957, Neville Shute, chapter 2, in On the Beach, New York: William Morrow & Co

   The workings now employ ten twin-units, which are fuelled at Hornsey but return to Cambridge diesel depot for their weekly maintenance; [...].

   1959 May, “Talking of Trains: By diesel m.u. to Moorgate”, in Trains Illustrated, page 235

2. transitiveTo exacerbate, to cause to grow or become greater.

   One detail that has fueled speculation for over a decade is the tyre tracks, which show the Highlander accelerated as it went down the embankment rather than braking.

   2026 July 18, Nicholas Muhoro, “Bryce Laspisa Vanished Near Castaic Lake After Spending 13 Hours Parked on a California Highway”, in Skip Boring, archived from the original on 19 Jul 2026

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   There were times, during the first two years of the Biden presidency, when I came close to forgetting about it all: the taunts and the provocations; the incitements and the resentments; the disorchestrated reasoning; the verbal incontinence; the press conferences fueled by megalomania, vengeance, and a soupçon of hydroxychloroquine.

   2023 December 8, Jennifer Senior, “What Will Happen to the American Psyche If Trump Is Reelected?”, in The Atlantic