coke

¹ American  

[kohk] / koʊk /

noun

1. the solid product resulting from the destructive distillation of coal in an oven or closed chamber or by imperfect combustion, consisting principally of carbon: used chiefly as a fuel in metallurgy to reduce metallic oxides to metals.

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verb (used with or without object)

coked, coking

1. to convert into or become coke.

coke ² American  

[kohk] / koʊk /

noun

1. cocaine.

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verb (used with object)

1. to bring (oneself) to a specified state or point by using cocaine.

   She drank and smoked and coked herself into a heart attack.

   Sadly, this promising hockey player coked himself out of an NHL job.

verb phrase

1. coke up / out to drug (oneself or another), especially with cocaine.

   The episode starts with her haggardly coking up and then packing her kids off to school.

   They coked her out, stole all her cash, and left her wandering in an unfamiliar neighborhood.

Coke ³ American  

[kohk] / koʊk /

noun

(sometimes lowercase)

1. a carbonated soft drink.

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Coke ⁴ American  

[kook] / kʊk /

Or Cooke

noun

1. Sir Edward, 1552–1634, English jurist and writer on law.

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coke ¹ British  

/ kəʊk /

noun

1. a solid-fuel product containing about 80 per cent of carbon produced by distillation of coal to drive off its volatile constituents: used as a fuel and in metallurgy as a reducing agent for converting metal oxides into metals

2. any similar material, such as the layer formed in the cylinders of a car engine by incomplete combustion of the fuel

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verb

1. to become or convert into coke

Coke ² British  

/ kʊk, kəʊk /

noun

1. Sir Edward. 1552–1634, English jurist, noted for his defence of the common law against encroachment from the Crown: the Petition of Right (1628) was largely his work

2. Thomas William, 1st Earl of Leicester, known as Coke of Holkham. 1752–1842, English agriculturist: pioneered agricultural improvement and considerably improved productivity at his Holkham estate in Norfolk

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Coke ³ British  

/ kəʊk /

noun

1. short for Coca-Cola

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coke ⁴ British  

/ kəʊk /

noun

1. slang short for cocaine

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Other Word Forms

• cokelike adjective
• coky adjective

Etymology

Origin of coke¹

1375–1425; late Middle English colke, coke, equivalent to Old English col coal + -( o ) ca -ock

Origin of coke²

An Americanism first recorded in 1905–10; short for cocaine

Origin of Coke³

From Coke, the brand name of a carbonated cola drink

Example Sentences

The company said in December that it would eliminate a third of its workforce, or about 1,000 jobs, as it shuttered production from its blast furnace and coke ovens and transitioned to electric-arc steelmaking.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 11, 2026

“I had to take a few jelly beans and coke to get going. It wasn’t the prettiest innings but sometimes you’ve got to do it ugly.”

From Barron's • Oct. 10, 2025

The plant is a major producer of coke, a coal-based fuel used in the production of steel.

From BBC • Aug. 11, 2025

By tuning interactions between the metal active sites and the support during catalyst synthesis, the scientists suppressed coke formation and metal sintering.

From Science Daily • Nov. 26, 2024

I’m black because I work at the Limerick Gas Works shoveling coal and coke into the furnaces.

From "Angela's Ashes: A Memoir" by Frank McCourt

Related Words

• crack
• dope
• poison
• stimulant