Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of numerous mineral, vegetable, or synthetic substances or animal or vegetable fats that are generally slippery, combustible, viscous, liquid or liquefiable at room temperatures, soluble in various organic solvents such as ether but not in water, and used in a great variety of products, especially lubricants and fuels.
  • noun Petroleum.
  • noun A petroleum derivative, such as a machine oil or lubricant.
  • noun A protective or cosmetic liquid applied to the skin or hair.
  • noun Oil paint.
  • noun A painting done in oil paint.
  • transitive verb To lubricate, supply, cover, or polish with oil.
  • idiom (hand/palm) To bribe.
  • idiom (hand/palm) To give a tip to.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In chem., a termination denoting an ether derived from a phenol: as, anisoïl (formerly called anisol).
  • To smear or rub over with oil; prepare for use by the application of oil: as, to oil a rag; oiled paper or silk.
  • To anoint with oil.
  • To render smooth by the application of oil; lubricate: as, to oil machinery; hence, figuratively, to render oily and bland; make smooth and pleasing.
  • to make it water-proof, as in China, Japan, etc., where oiled paper is extensively used for umbrellas, water-pails, lanterns, rain-clothes, etc.
  • noun Indian geranium or palmarosa oil (formerly called Turkish geranium-oil), a fragrant essential oil distilled from the leaves of Andropogon Schœnanthus, used in perfumery. It comes from the Bombay Presidency in India.
  • noun The general name for a class of bodies which have all or most of the following properties in common: they are neutral bodies having a more or less unctuous feel and viscous consistence, are liquid at ordinary temperatures, are lighter than water, and are insoluble in it, but dissolve in alcohol and more readily in ether, and take fire when heated in air, burning with a luminous smoky flame.
  • noun Specifically Oil as used for burning in a lamp, to afford light: as, to burn the midnight oil (alluding to nocturnal study).
  • noun An oil of indifferent scent from the Lebanon cedar.
  • noun Oil of chrism, oil mixed with balsam, or with wine and aromatics, used at baptism, confirmation, coronation of sovereigns, etc.: also called chrism.
  • noun Oil of the sick, oil used at the unction of the sick. See euchelaion and unction.
  • noun Especially, in the Greek Church, oil which has been in contact with a relic or other sacred object, or has been taken from a church lamp.
  • noun Oil of myrcia.
  • noun Punishment with a birchen switch; a beating.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Any one of a great variety of unctuous combustible substances, more viscous than and not miscible with water; They are of animal, vegetable, or mineral origin and of varied composition, and they are variously used for food, for solvents, for anointing, lubrication, illumination, etc. By extension, any substance of an oily consistency.
  • noun etc. (Old Chem.), a complex oil obtained by the distillation of animal substances, as bones. See Bone oil, under Bone.
  • noun (Chem.) See under Drying, and Essential.
  • noun (Chem.) See under Ethereal.
  • noun (Chem.) See under Fixed.
  • noun (Zoöl.) a bag, cyst, or gland in animals, containing oil.
  • noun (Zoöl.) any beetle of the genus Meloe and allied genera. When disturbed they emit from the joints of the legs a yellowish oily liquor. Some species possess vesicating properties, and are used instead of cantharides.
  • noun (Mach.) a fixed box or reservoir, for lubricating a bearing; esp., the box for oil beneath the journal of a railway-car axle.
  • noun See under Cake.
  • noun a stopcock connected with an oil cup. See Oil cup.
  • noun a painting made from such a paint.
  • noun a cup, or small receptacle, connected with a bearing as a lubricator, and usually provided with a wick, wire, or adjustable valve for regulating the delivery of oil.
  • noun a gas engine worked with the explosive vapor of petroleum.
  • noun inflammable gas procured from oil, and used for lighting streets, houses, etc.
  • noun (Zoöl.), (Bot.) A gland, in some plants, producing oil.
  • noun a pale yellowish green, like oil.
  • noun empyreumatic oil obtained by subjecting a brick soaked in oil to distillation at a high temperature, -- used by lapidaries as a vehicle for the emery by which stones and gems are sawn or cut.
  • noun [Obs.] a nostrum made of calcined talc, and famous in the 17th century as a cosmetic.
  • noun (Chem.) strong sulphuric acid; -- so called from its oily consistency and from its forming the vitriols or sulphates.
  • noun Œnanthic ether. See under Œnanthic.
  • noun Any kind of painting of which the pigments are originally ground in oil.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French oile, from Latin oleum, olive oil, from Greek *elaiwon, elaion, from *elaiwā, elaiā, olive.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English oile ("olive oil"), from Anglo-Norman olie, from Latin oleum ("oil, olive oil"), from Ancient Greek ἔλαιον (elaion, "olive oil"), from ἐλαία (elaía, "olive"). More at olive. Supplanted Old English æle, also from Latin.

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Examples

  • VIEW FAVORITES yahooBuzzArticleHeadline = 'Bush Misfires in Drive to End \'Oil Addiction\' '; yahooBuzzArticleSummary =' George W. Bush runs the risk of alienating the world’s biggest source of oil with his plan to end America’s “oil addiction”, Opec delegates, oil ministers, energy experts and even some environmentalists said yesterday.

    OpEdNews - Quicklink: Bush Misfires in Drive to End 'Oil Addiction' 2006

  • George W. Bush runs the risk of alienating the world’s biggest source of oil with his plan to end America’s “oil addiction”, Opec delegates, oil ministers, energy experts and even some environmentalists said yesterday.

    OpEdNews - Quicklink: Bush Misfires in Drive to End 'Oil Addiction' 2006

  • Moab abounded with flocks, particularly with sheep; * it abounded also with oil; and Balak supposed that the divine favor might be obtained by sacrifices of this kind -- by a profusion of them -- _thousands of ram, and ten thousands of rivers of oil_.

    Sermons on Various Important Subjects Andrew Lee

  • He would offer all the cattle, and all the oil of his kingdom, _thousands of ram, and ten thousands of rivers of oil_!

    Sermons on Various Important Subjects Andrew Lee

  • Mucilage, camphor, and oil may be taken to neutralize cantharides: -- CANTHARIDES ... hair-grower ... _oil_ ... smooth-running

    Assimilative Memory or, How to Attend and Never Forget

  • Add 12 ounces of beeswax to a gallon of linseed oil, and boil it two hours; prime the cloth with this mixture, and use the same in place of _boiled oil_ for mixing the paint.

    Ordnance Instructions for the United States Navy. 1866. Fourth edition. United States. Navy Dept. Bureau of Ordnance

  • But as soon as the vermin have disappeared, let the oil be discontinued, as the _natural oil_ of the hair is, at other times, the only oil that is required on the head.

    Advice to a Mother on the Management of Her Children Pye Henry Chavasse 1844

  • You have poured oil in the raw and festering wound of an old friend's conscience, Cottle! but it is _oil of vitriol!

    Reminiscences of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey Joseph Cottle 1811

  • I've added equipment (from plantdrive. com) so I can use vegetable oil as a fuel, but as long as I keep away from high sulfur canola oil*, I'm in the clear.

    Mother Earth News Latest 10 Articles By?Jack McCornack 2010

  • I got 2 boxes (12x2) 5w30 1qt NAPA syn oil for $2.99/qt and purolator filter for $1.25 a piece a few months back with my MM rebate cards (so basically oil+ filter is all FREE for me).

    Fatwallet.com Hot Deals 2010

Comments

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  • Where I grew up, the words "oil" and "all" were homophones--as in "my motor is low on all."

    October 10, 2007

  • Ha! I hear that a lot where I live now. Where I grew up, we used to jokingly pronounce it "erl." Wait... we still do.

    October 29, 2007

  • Captured at Yorktown, "3 jars oil, 90 gallons."

    Those are some big damn jars!

    October 29, 2007

  • Citation (as oil painting) on discomfited.

    June 30, 2008