coal oil

petroleum obtained by the destructive distillation of bituminous coal.

kerosene.

Origin of coal oil

An Americanism dating back to 1855–60

A small coloured boy stood patiently by the stove waiting for his coal-oil can to be filled.

The Little Colonel at Boarding-School |Annie Fellows Johnston
The room smelled of fish, tobacco, and coal-oil, and we were obliged to go to the door now and then for fresh air.

A Woman who went to Alaska |May Kellogg Sullivan
They were all of wood—heated by soft-coal stoves and lighted by coal-oil lamps.

In a Little Town |Rupert Hughes
The torches of the Communards had already set fire to the wood-work saturated with coal-oil.

Harper's Young People, August 31, 1880 |Various

The discovery of coal-oil and the utilization of kerosene for lighting date back to about 1859.

A Backward Glance at Eighty |Charles A. Murdock

coal oil

US and Canadian petroleum or a refined product from petroleum, esp kerosene

a crude oil produced, together with coal gas, during the distillation of bituminous coal