The origin is not certain. The OED says it is first attested in 1669. The MED has an earlier attestation in the related sense of "charcoal" in 1430: Middle English coke. This may be the same word as colk (“core”) (perhaps from the notion that coke is the core of the material left after it burning), from Old English *colc (“hole, well”), from Proto-West Germanic *kolk, from Proto-Germanic *kulukaz (“a hollow, depression”), from Proto-Indo-European *g(ʷ)el- (“to swallow, devour; gullet”). If so, cognate with Saterland Frisian Kolk (“maelstrom, depression, whirlpool”), West Frisian kolk (“maelstrom, whirlpool”), Dutch kolk (“maelstrom, vortex, whirlpool”), German Kolk (“pothole”).
Meanings
(uncountable) Solid residue from roasting coal in a coke oven; used principally as a fuel and in the production of steel and formerly as a domestic fuel.
The plant should produce approximately 550,000 tons of screened blast furnace coke per year.
At Ho-pi (Hopi) in northern Honan two modern shafts were under construction in 1957-8; but the coal from Ho-pi is expected to be of rather poor quality and so will be mixed with rich coal from P'ing-ting-shan (Pingtingshan) in central Honan for coke making. 1963, “The Coal Industry in Mainland China Since 1949”, in The Geographical Journal, volume 129, number 3, →ISSN, →JSTOR, →OCLC, page 333:
This Messrs. Greener and Straite allege they have effected by taking a quantity of lampblack or powdered charcoal, or of powdered coke, and which has been purified, by the action of electricity from sulphur and any other mixtures, and digesting the same in diluted nitro-muriatic acid. 1846, editorial staff, “CHEMISTRY”, in Scientific American, series 1, Volume 2, Issue 13, page 102:
The origin is not certain. The OED says it is first attested in 1669. The MED has an earlier attestation in the related sense of "charcoal" in 1430: Middle English coke. This may be the same word as colk (“core”) (perhaps from the notion that coke is the core of the material left after it burning), from Old English *colc (“hole, well”), from Proto-West Germanic *kolk, from Proto-Germanic *kulukaz (“a hollow, depression”), from Proto-Indo-European *g(ʷ)el- (“to swallow, devour; gullet”). If so, cognate with Saterland Frisian Kolk (“maelstrom, depression, whirlpool”), West Frisian kolk (“maelstrom, whirlpool”), Dutch kolk (“maelstrom, vortex, whirlpool”), German Kolk (“pothole”).
Meanings
(transitive) To produce coke from coal.
(intransitive) To turn into coke.
(especially) To add deleterious carbon deposits as a byproduct of combustion.
In kerolox engines, some of the fuel flow cokes in the engine's cooling passages over time, requiring thorough cleaning prior to reuse.
bg коксу́вам (to produce coke) · lt koksuoti (to produce coke) · bg коксувам (to turn into coke) · pl koksować (to produce coke) · yi קאָקסירן (to produce coke) · de verkoken (to turn into coke) · uk коксувати (to turn into coke) · pl koksować (to turn into coke) · de koken (to produce coke) · fi koksautua (to turn into coke) · uk коксувати (to produce coke) · fi koksittaa (to produce coke) · fi koksata (to produce coke) · yi קאָקסירן זיך (to turn into coke)
Etymology tree
Aymarader.
Quechua kukabor.
Aymara kukabor.
Spanish cocabor.
English coca
English -ine
English cocaineclip.
English coke
Originated circa 1908 in American English as a clipping of cocaine.
fr coca (short for cocaine) · lt koksas (short for cocaine) · ru ко́кос (short for cocaine) · ru кокс (short for cocaine) · pl koka (short for cocaine) · it coca (short for cocaine) · el κόκα (short for cocaine) · et koka (short for cocaine) · da coke (short for cocaine) · bg ко́ка (short for cocaine) · pt coca (short for cocaine) · fr coke (short for cocaine) · ru ко́ка (short for cocaine) · fi koka (short for cocaine) · sv kola (short for cocaine) · sv ladd (short for cocaine) · fi spägä (short for cocaine) · sv kox (short for cocaine) · de Koks (short for cocaine) · es coca (short for cocaine) · fi koksu (short for cocaine) · sv snö (short for cocaine) · sv koks (short for cocaine) · fi keula (short for cocaine)
Since 1909, by genericization from the name of the American company Coca-Cola and the beverage it produced; the drink was named for two of its original ingredients, coca leaves and cola nut.
Meanings
(alt-of, informal, uncountable) Alternative letter-case form of Coke (cola-based soft drink, especially Coca-Cola).