kerosene

/ˈkɛrəsin/

/ˈkɛrəsin/

Other forms: kerosenes

Kerosene is an oil that's commonly used for fuel in stoves, lamps, and heaters. If you go camping, you might heat up some chili over a portable kerosene stove before telling ghost stories.

Kerosene is an efficient fuel, which makes it portable — you don't need to burn that much kerosene to generate heat or cook food. It's common, therefore, in camping stoves and lamps, and it's a low-cost method of backup heat during power outages as well. Also known as paraffin, kerosene has other uses, including powering jet engines, the outboard motors of small boats, and in parts of Asia, motorcycles as well.

Definitions of kerosene

1. noun

   a flammable hydrocarbon oil used as fuel in lamps and heaters
   synonyms: coal oil, kerosine, lamp oil

   types:

   paraffin, paraffin oil

   (British usage) kerosine

   type of:

   fuel

   a substance that can be consumed to produce energy

   hydrocarbon

   an organic compound containing only carbon and hydrogen