stoking

Verb (1)

stoke (third-person singular simple present stokes, present participle stoking, simple past and past participle stoked)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To poke, pierce, thrust.
   • Ne short swerd for to stoke with point bityng / No man ne drawe ne bere it by his syde / Ne no man shal un to his felawe ryde / But o cours with a sharp ygrounde spere1387–1400, [Geoffrey] Chaucer, “The Knẏghtes Tale”, in The Tales of Caunt́bury (Hengwrt Chaucer; Peniarth Manuscript 392D), Aberystwyth, Ceredigion: National Library of Wales, published [c....

Verb (2)

stoke (third-person singular simple present stokes, present participle stoking, simple past and past participle stoked)

1. (transitive) To feed, stir up, especially, a fire or furnace.
2. (broadly, transitive) To encourage a behavior or emotion.
   • Stoking the star maker machinery behind the popular song1974, Joni Mitchell, Free Man in Paris
3. (intransitive) To attend to or supply a furnace with fuel; to act as a stoker or fireman.

See all 11 meanings of stoke