I. ˈfyü]əl, -u̇]əl also -ü]l, chiefly Brit ](ˌ)il noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English fewel, from Old French fouaille, fuaille, from feu fire, from Late Latin focus, from Latin, hearth — more at focus
1.
a. : a material (as coal, coke, gas, oil, peat, wood) used to produce heat or power by burning : something that feeds fire
b. : nutritive material : food : aliment
animals take food to obtain fuel or energy to carry on all their life activities — G.E. & Nettie MacGinitie
c. : any material from which atomic energy can be liberated ; especially : fissionable material used in a nuclear reactor — called also nuclear fuel
2. : a source of sustenance or additional incentive : reinforcement
public opinion … ought to provide the fuel to carry American foreign policy forward — H.J.Morgenthau
II. verb
( fueled or fuelled ; fueled or fuelled ; fueling or fuelling ; fuels )
transitive verb
1. : to provide with material for burning
the virgin stand of big trees … went long ago … to fuel the furnaces — J.W.Schaefer
2. : support , stimulate
the country might be on its way to self-sufficiency in petroleum instead of … scrabbling for supplies to fuel its industrial development — S.G.Hanson
intransitive verb
: to take in fuel : become provided with fuel — often used with up
the plane's fueling up — Kay Boyle