fuelish

English

Etymology

Blend of fuel +‎ -ish +‎ foolish

Pronunciation

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Adjective

fuelish (comparative more fuelish, superlative most fuelish)

1. Consuming excessive amounts of fuel, especially fossil fuels.
   • 1979, Environmental Design Research Association, EDRA. - Volume 10, Part 1979, page 433:

     People who were "fuelish" would learn to conserve, or simply do without.

   • 1980, Montana Outdoors - Volume 11, page 8:

     Driving fuel-efficient vehicles and using motorbikes when possible to replace or supplement vehicles are two of the ways Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks employees are attempting to become less fuelish and to lower transportation costs.

   • 1987, William Geist, The Zucchini Plague and Other Tales of Suburbia, page 91:

     For the moment, there is no energy crisis, no gasoline rationing, no collection of conservation tips from oil companies, no twinge of un-Americanism from driving a car big enough to fit into comfortably, and no such thing as being "fuelish."

   • 2009, Thomas Hine, The Great Funk: Falling Apart and Coming Together:

     The fifty-five-mile-per-hour speed limit, the unreliable cars that had been reconfigured to meet fuel efficiency standards, the constant reminders not to be “fuelish” served as reminders that one of America's oldest freedoms—the freedom to waste—had been severely curtailed.

   • 2010, Dan Chiras, Green Transportation Basics: A Green Energy Guide, page 40:

     A heavy foot, aggressive driving in traffic, and other fuelish driving habits significantly reduce fuel economy and cost you dearly at the pump.

2. Pertaining to fuel, especially in a manner that is considered silly.
   • 1881, Fun - Volume 34, page 249:

     Special arrangements will be made, we understand, to obviate the dire necessity of the costermonger having to consume his (s) moke! Smoke, it is admitted, is "sootable" for many purposes; but the wisest plan is virtually the most “fuelish", viz. to burn it as additional fuel.

   • 1921, Ax-I-Dent-Ax - Volumes 6-7, page 15:

     "Spring is only three tons away." says the Harrisburg Patriot. "A fuelish way of measuring." comments a correspondant.

   • 1981, The Current Digest of the Soviet Press - Volume 33, page 18:

     What fuelish fancies! The crooks have wrung such abundant profits from the coupons that "no prison sentence could be long enough," as one courtroom bystander put it.