cinder

[sin-der] /ˈsɪn dər/
noun
1.
a partially or mostly burned piece of coal, wood, etc.
2.
cinders.
  1. any residue of combustion; ashes.
  2. Geology. coarse scoriae erupted by volcanoes.
3.
a live, flameless coal; ember.
4.
Metallurgy.
  1. slag (def 1).
  2. a mixture of ashes and slag.
verb (used with object)
5.
to spread cinders on:
The highway department salted and cindered the icy roads.
6.
Archaic. to reduce to cinders.
verb (used without object)
7.
to spread cinders on a surface, as a road or sidewalk:
My neighbor began cindering as soon as the first snowflake fell.
Origin
before 900; Middle English synder, Old English sinder slag; cognate with German Sinter, Old Norse sindr; c- (for s-) < French cendre ashes
Related forms
cindery, cinderous, adjective
cinderlike, adjective
Examples from the web for cinder
  • Much of the housing is self-built cinder block, and the owners build them as the money becomes available.
  • Next door, a sagging chain-link fence surrounds a cinder block kindergarten.
  • The walls here are made of cinder blocks-good in hurricanes.
  • Walk past the gumball machine into a large room with a salmon-colored cinder-block wall.
  • See the actual cinder cone on top while enjoying gorgeous city views.
  • Question two is true if the mountains in question are volcanic in nature, especially cinder cones.
  • The ramp is enclosed by cinder-block walls, about three feet high.
  • My father happened to have one, resting on cinder blocks, in a forgotten corner of his lot.
  • Behind the team, a contraption is weighted with big cinder blocks which are pulled in hitches.
  • Earlier flows become covered with piles of cinders, called cinder cones, which form around these eruptions.
British Dictionary definitions for cinder

cinder

/ˈsɪndə/
noun
1.
a piece of incombustible material left after the combustion of coal, coke, etc; clinker
2.
a piece of charred material that burns without flames; ember
3.
Also called sinter. any solid waste from smelting or refining
4.
(pl) fragments of volcanic lava; scoriae
verb
5.
(transitive) (rare) to burn to cinders
Derived Forms
cindery, adjective
Word Origin
Old English sinder; related to Old Norse sindr, Old High German sintar, Old Slavonic sedra stalactite
Word Origin and History for cinder
n.

Old English sinder "dross of iron, slag," from Proto-Germanic *sendra- "slag" (cf. Old Saxon sinder "slag, dross," Old Norse sindr, Middle Low German and Middle Dutch sinder, Dutch sintel, Old High German sintar, German Sinter), from PIE root *sendhro- "coagulating fluid" (cf. Old Church Slavonic sedra "cinder").

Initial s- changed to c- under influence of unrelated French cendre "ashes," from Latin cinerem (nominative cinis) "ashes," from or related to Greek konis "dust" (see incinerate). The French word also apparently shifted the sense of the English one to "small piece of burnt coal" (16c.). Volcanic cinder cone is recorded from 1849.

Idioms and Phrases with cinder

cinder

see: burned to a cinder