quenchcoal

See also: quench-coal

English

Alternative forms

• quench-coal

Etymology

quench +‎ coal

Noun

quenchcoal (countable and uncountable, plural quenchcoals)

1. (obsolete, idiomatic, Puritanism) A person or thing that undermines religious zeal; hence a heartless, uncaring person with respect to religion.
   • 1615, Samuel Ward, A Coal from the Altar to Kindle the Holy Fire of Zeal:

     Zeal has in this our earthly mold little fuel and much quench-coal; it is hardly fired and soon cooled.

   • 1642, Daniel Rogers, Naaman the Syrian: His Disease and Cure, page 868:

     You are quenchcoal; no sparkle of grace can kindle upon your cold hearth.

   • 1817, “William Prynne”, in Athenae Oxonienses, volume 3, page 847:

     In 1636 he published two books at once, or immediately after each other. One of them was called The Quench Coal, in answer to that called A Coal from the Altar; against placing the Communion-Table Altarwise.