释义 |
fu·el 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 > |