collier

noun

col·​lier ˈkäl-yər 

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

Sotheby’s will offer Amedeo Modigliani’s Nu assis au collier (Seated Nude with Necklace), 1917, later this month. — Devorah Lauter, ARTnews.com, 8 June 2026

Holmes elevated her look by wearing nearly $80,000 worth of Arielle Ratner jewels, including the statement diamond Gatsby earrings and the diamond Gatsby collier. — Julia Teti, Footwear News, 21 May 2026

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

Word History

Etymology

Middle English colier, from col coal

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids 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 3

biographical name (2)

John Payne 1789–1883 English editor

Collier

3 of 3

biographical name (3)

Peter Fen*e*lon ˈfe-nə-lən  1849–1909 American publisher