fu·el (fyū'əl)
n.

1. Something consumed to produce energy, especially:
   1. A material such as wood, coal, gas, or oil burned to produce heat or power.
   2. Fissionable material used in a nuclear reactor.
   3. Nutritive material metabolized by a living organism; food.
2. Something that maintains or stimulates an activity or emotion: "Money is the fuel of a volunteer organization" (Natalie de Combray).

v., -eled, also -elled, -el·ing, -el·ling, -els, -els.

v.tr.

1. To provide with fuel.
2. To support or stimulate the activity or existence of: rhetoric that fueled the dissenters.

v.intr.
To take in fuel.

[Middle English feuel, from Old French fouaille, feuaile, from Vulgar Latin *focālia, neuter pl. of *focālis, of the hearth or fireplace, from Latin focus, hearth, fireplace.]

fueler fu'el·er n.

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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.

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