1. A black, porous, carbonaceous material, 85 to 98 percent carbon, produced by the destructive distillation of wood and used as a fuel, filter, and absorbent.
2. 1. A drawing pencil or crayon made from this material.
   2. A drawing executed with such a pencil or crayon.
3. A dark grayish brown to black or dark purplish gray.

1. To draw, write, or blacken with a black, carbonaceous material.
2. To charbroil.

[Middle English charcol : char (perhaps from Old French charbon , from Latin carbō; see carbon) + col, charcoal, coal; see coal.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.