refuel

Everyday

1. To refuel is to fill a car, plane, ship or other vehicle with fuel again. tree →
2. (informal) To refuel is to eat and drink to get your energy back. tree →

In the lessons

In everyday life cars refuel at petrol (UK) or gas (USA) stations; planes refuel at airports. In maths problems: how many litres are needed to refuel, how much it costs. Joking use: «Let's refuel» = let's have a snack. Phrases: «stop to refuel», «refuelling stop».

Examples

• We stopped to refuel on the motorway. tree →
• The plane landed to refuel before flying on. tree →
• After football practice I need to refuel with a sandwich. tree →
• It cost $60 to refuel the car. tree →
• The tank holds 50 litres; it had 10 litres left, so we needed 40 litres to refuel. tree →
• The rescue boat refuelled at the harbour. tree →
• The runners refuelled with oranges at half-time. tree →

Note

UK doubles the l (refuelled, refuelling); USA uses one l (refueled, refueling). In maths, the fuel needed = full tank − fuel already in the tank.