If you stoke something such as a feeling, you cause it to be felt more strongly. These demands are helping to stoke fears of civil war. Stoke up means the same as stoke. He has sent his proposals in the hope of stoking up interest for the idea
If you stoke a fire, you add coal or wood to it to keep it burning. She was stoking the stove with sticks of maple. Stoke up means the same as stoke. He stoked up the fire in the hearth