Definition of "stoke"

stoke¹

/stəʊk/

verb
third-person singular simple present stokes, present participle stoking, simple past and past participle stoked
1. (transitive, obsolete) To poke, pierce, thrust.
  Quotations
  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 spereNo man shall draw a short sword with a sharpened point for piercing thrusts, nor will bear any such weapon by his side. Neither shall any man ride toward his opponent with a sharp-ground spear more than once.
  1387–1400, [Geoffrey] Chaucer, “The Knẏghtes Tale”, in The Tales of Caunt́bury (Hengwrt Chaucer; Peniarth Manuscript 392D), Aberystwyth, Ceredigion: National Library of Wales, published c. 1400–1410], folio 34, recto, lines 1688–1691
noun
plural stokes
1. An act of poking, piercing, thrusting

stoke²

/stəʊk/

verb
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. (transitive, by extension) To encourage a behavior or emotion.
  Quotations
  Stoking the star maker machinery behind the popular song
  1974, Joni Mitchell, Free Man in Paris
  To stoke motivation and ambition, focus instead on the road ahead.
  2011, Roy F. Baumeister, John Tierney, Willpower, page 120
3. (intransitive) To attend to or supply a furnace with fuel; to act as a stoker or fireman.

stoke³

/stəʊk/

noun
plural stokes
1. (physics) Misconstruction of stokes (unit of kinematic viscosity)