collier

¹

[ kol-yer ]

noun

1. a ship for carrying coal.
2. a coal miner.
3. Obsolete. a person who carries or sells coal.

Collier

²

[ kol-yer ]

noun

1. Jeremy, 1650–1726, English clergyman and author.

collier

/ ˈkɒlɪə /

noun

1. a coal miner
2. 1. a ship designed to transport coal
   2. a member of its crew

Word History and Origins

Origin of collier¹

1300–50; Middle English coliere; coal, -ier ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of collier¹

C14: from coal + -ier

Example Sentences

Jung’s interpolations are perhaps an improvement on the real first lines — an elaborate play on “collier” and “choler” — though specificity of acting and direction would have put the language across.

From New York Times

My grandfather had been a collier in northern England, my father a career Marine sergeant.

From New York Times

It was painted by Dutch artist Albert Houthuesen who was fascinated with the working life of the colliers in Trelogan, Flintshire, while on holiday in the area with his wife in the 1930s.

From BBC

Many were paid more, too: At boarding school they had received vocational training that qualified them for better billets, as carpenters’ mates, shipwrights, blacksmiths, electricians and colliers, among others.

From New York Times

Huge numbers of trees had to be cut down and burned in specially built mounds by “colliers” to make charcoal, which was hauled to the furnace for fuel.

From Washington Post

Related Words

• prospector