coaled

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of coal.

   The cruiser coaled at Gibraltar before crossing the Atlantic.

   Every freighter that coaled at the depot paid a docking fee.

   Note

   A regular past form, so one spelling covers both the simple past (the steamer coaled at noon) and the participle after have or be. The construction tells you which verb you have. Intransitively, the ship takes on fuel itself. In the passive (the ship was coaled overnight), someone supplied it. The verb also reaches charcoal: wood coaled in a kiln has been charred, and a sketch coaled on paper was drawn in charcoal.

2. 2
   adjective

   Supplied with a load of coal for burning as fuel.

   The freshly coaled cruiser steamed out of the harbor at full speed.

   A coaled vessel could cross the ocean without stopping for fuel.

   Similarloaded

   Note

   The participle settled into an adjective for a vessel stocked with fuel and ready to go. It is not comparable, since no ship is more coaled than another, yet it pairs naturally with fully, which marks completeness rather than degree. Harriet W. Daly's Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life (1887) shows it opening a clause: "Fully coaled, we steamed away to Melbourne." It stays close to the past participle it came from.

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