1
: one that produces charcoal
2
: a coal miner
3
: a ship for transporting coal
Examples of collier in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Emory, who lives about a half-hour from the forge, was able to trace her ancestry to Robert Patterson, a free African American with ties to Catoctin who worked as a collier, producing the charcoal used to run furnaces, and who also owned a farm.
—
Usha Lee McFarling, STAT, 3 Aug. 2023
On the way home, the collier made a stop (some say unplanned) in Barbados for coal.
—Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 27 Feb. 2023
Fog creeping into the cabooses of collier-brigs; fog lying out on the yards and hovering in the rigging of great ships; fog drooping on the gunwales of barges and small boats.
—The New Yorker, 28 Feb. 2022
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Usha Lee McFarling, STAT, 3 Aug. 2023
On the way home, the collier made a stop (some say unplanned) in Barbados for coal.
—Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 27 Feb. 2023
Fog creeping into the cabooses of collier-brigs; fog lying out on the yards and hovering in the rigging of great ships; fog drooping on the gunwales of barges and small boats.
—The New Yorker, 28 Feb. 2022
Cite this Entry
“Collier.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/collier. Accessed 20 Dec. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
collier
noun
col·lier
ˈkäl-yər 
1
: a coal miner
2
: a ship for carrying coal
Biographical Definition
Collier 1 of 3
biographical name (1)
Col·lier
ˈkäl-yər
ˈkä-lē-ər
Jeremy 1650–1726 English clergyman
Collier
2 of 3biographical name (2)
John Payne 1789–1883 English editor
Collier
3 of 3biographical name (3)
Peter Fen*e*lon
ˈfe-nə-lən
1849–1909 American publisher
1849–1909 American publisher
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