oil

I. oil1 S2 W1 /ɔɪl/ noun
[Date: 1100-1200; Language: Old French; Origin: oile, from Latin oleum 'olive oil', from Greek elaia 'olive']
1. NATURAL SUBSTANCE UNDER THE GROUND [uncountable] the thick dark liquid from under the ground from which petrol is produced ⇨ crude:
   • a rise in the price of oil
   • the importance of protecting our oil supplies
   • an oil refinery (=factory where oil is made purer)
2. FUEL [uncountable] a smooth thick liquid that is used to make machines run easily or is burned to produce heat:
   • Check the oil level in your car every week.
   • The heating system runs on oil.
3.
  LIQUID FROM PLANTS [uncountable and countable] a smooth thick liquid made from plants or some animals, used especially in cooking or for making beauty products:
   • cooking oil
  olive/vegetable/sunflower etc oil
   • coconut oil shampoo
   • Fish oils are supposed to help relieve arthritis. ⇨ castor oil, cod-liver oil, linseed oil
4. PAINT oils [plural] paints that contain oil SYN oil paints
  in oils
   • I usually paint in oils (=using oils).
⇨ burn the midnight oil at burn1(20), ⇨ pour oil on troubled waters at pour(8)
     • • •

COLLOCATIONS■ verbs

   ▪ discover/find oil • Oil was discovered in Saudi Arabia in 1938. | • How does a company go about finding oil and getting it from the ground?
   ▪ hit/strike oil (=to find oil when you are digging for it) • The engineers drilled down a few hundred metres until they hit oil. | • The Ohio Oil Company struck oil on May 3rd.
   ▪ drill for oil • Plans to drill for oil off the New South Wales coast have recently been revived.
   ▪ produce oil (=to have natural areas of oil, and take it out of the ground) • The US does not produce enough oil to meet its own needs.
   ▪ extract oil formal (=to take oil out of an area) • the difficult process of extracting the oil

■ adjectives

   ▪ crude oil (=oil in its natural state) • the price of crude oil
   ▪ refined oil (=oil that has been treated by an industrial process) • They had exported refined oil.
   ▪ offshore oil (=found under the sea, not far from the coast) • The company has the technical capabilities to produce offshore oil.
   ▪ heavy/light oil • 2,000 barrels of heavy oil are produced a day. | • The oil corporation announced the discovery of another field of light oil.

■ oil + NOUN

   ▪ oil prices • The increase in oil prices has prompted warnings of a global recession.
   ▪ the oil industry • He works in in the oil industry.
   ▪ an oil company • YPF was the state oil company in Argentina.
   ▪ an oil producer (=a country which produces oil) • The Soviet Union is the world's largest oil producer.
   ▪ an oil refinery (=a place where oil is treated by an industrial process) • an oil refinery in Perth
   ▪ oil production • a fall in US oil production
   ▪ an oil spill (=situation in which oil comes out of a ship or other container into the sea) • a terrible oil spill near the Shetland Islands
   ▪ an oil crisis (=situation in which there is not enough oil, and the price of oil is very high) • The world is facing an oil crisis.
   ▪ an oil rig (=structure on land or in the sea with equipment for getting oil out of the ground) • an oil rig in the North Sea

Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

oil

oil [oil oils oiled oiling] noun, verb [ɔɪl] [ɔɪl]

noun

1. uncountable a thick liquid that is found in rock underground

Syn: petroleum

• drilling for oil

2. uncountable a form of petroleum that is used as fuel and to make parts of machines move smoothly

• engine oil

• an oil lamp/heater

• Put some oil in the car.

3. uncountable, countable a smooth thick liquid that is made from plants or animals and is used in cooking

• olive oil

• vegetable oils

4. uncountable, countable a smooth thick liquid that is made from plants, minerals, etc. and is used on the skin or hair

• lavender bath oil

• suntan oil

see also essential oil

5. uncountable (also oils plural) coloured paint containing oil used by artists

• a painting done in oils

• landscapes in oil

see also oil paint

6. countable = oil painting

• Among the more important Turner oils was ‘Venus and Adonis’.

see also oily, castor oil, cod liver oil, linseed oil, see burn the midnight oil at burn v., pour oil on troubled water at pour

Word Origin:

Middle English: from Old Northern French olie, Old French oile, from Latin oleum ‘(olive) oil’; compare with olea ‘olive’.

Thesaurus:

oil noun U

• Several companies are drilling for oil in the region.

petroleum • • diesel • • fuel • • fossil fuel • |BrE petrol • |AmE gas • • gasoline •

sth runs on oil/diesel/fuel/petrol/gas/gasoline

the oil/petroleum/fuel industry

oil/petroleum/fuel/fossil fuel reserves

a/an oil/fuel/petrol/gas/gasoline tanker

Collocations:

Fine arts

Creating art

make a work of art/a drawing/a sketch/a sculpture/a statue/engravings/etchings/prints

do an oil painting/a self-portrait/a line drawing/a rough sketch

create a work of art/an artwork/paintings and sculptures

produce paintings/portraits/oil sketches/his most celebrated work/a series of prints

paint a picture/landscape/portrait/mural/in oils/in watercolours/(especially US) in watercolors/on canvas

draw a picture/a portrait/a cartoon/a sketch/a line/a figure/the human form/in charcoal/in ink

sketch a preliminary drawing/a figure/a shape

carve a figure/an image/a sculpture/an altarpiece/reliefs/a block of wood

sculpt a portrait bust/a statue/an abstract figure

etch a line/a pattern/a design/a name into the glass

mix colours/(especially US) colors/pigments/paints

add/apply thin/thick layers of paint/colour/(especially US) color/pigment

use oil pastels/charcoal/acrylic paint/a can of spray paint

work in bronze/ceramics/stone/oils/pastels/watercolour/a wide variety of media

Describing art

paint/depict a female figure/a biblical scene/a pastoral landscape/a domestic interior

depict/illustrate a traditional/mythological/historical/religious theme

create an abstract composition/a richly textured surface/a distorted perspective

paint dark/rich/skin/flesh tones

use broad brush strokes/loose brushwork/vibrant colours/a limited palette/simple geometric forms

develop/adopt/paint in a stylized manner/an abstract style

Showing and selling art

commission an altarpiece/a bronze bust of sb/a portrait/a religious work/an artist to paint sth

frame a painting/portrait

hang art/a picture/a painting

display/exhibit modern art/sb's work/a collection/original artwork/ drawings/sculptures/a piece

be displayed/hung in a gallery/museum

install/place a sculpture in/at/on sth

erect/unveil a bronze/marble/life-size statue

hold/host/mount/open/curate/see (especially BrE) an exhibition/(NAmE usually) exhibit

be/go on (BrE) exhibition/(NAmE) exhibit

feature/promote/showcase a conceptual artist/contemporary works

collect African art/modern British paintings/Japanese prints

restore/preserve a fresco/great works of art

Example Bank:

• ‘Four Women on a Bench’, oil on canvas, 1991

• A daily dose of omega-3 fish oil will help children to concentrate better.

• Fry the potato in a little sunflower oil.

• She rubbed a scented oil into her hair.

• The company is drilling for oil in the North Sea.

• The place smelled of oil.

• The sick were anointed with oil.

• Toast the bread, rub with garlic and drizzle over a little olive oil.

• Use a rag soaked in linseed oil.

• a bottle of extra virgin olive oil

• a rod coated with a film of oil

• a seven-mile-long oil slick off the Alaskan coast

• essential oils extracted from flowers

• oil of rosemary

• Acid rain from the burning oil wells could cause severe environmental damage.

• At the time, oil was trading at around $18 per barrel.

• Drizzle the salad with olive oil and top it with flakes of fresh Parmesan.

• Heat a little olive oil in a non-stick frying pan.

• Several companies are drilling for oil in the region.

• The well produced oil at a rate of 2 000 barrels of oil a day.

• Vegetable oils are better for you than animal fats.

Idiom: oil the wheels

Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary

Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary - 4th Edition

oil / ɔɪl / noun (FUEL)

B1 [ U ] petroleum (= the black oil obtained from under the Earth's surface from which petrol comes) :

drilling for oil

the oil industry

B1 [ U ] a thick liquid that comes from petroleum, used as a fuel and for making parts of machines move easily:

diesel/lubricating oil

oil / ɔɪl / noun [ C or U ] (FOR COOKING)

A2 a smooth thick liquid produced from plants or animals that is used in cooking:

olive/corn/vegetable/sunflower oil

oil / ɔɪl / noun [ C or U ] (FOR BODY/HAIR)

a smooth thick liquid that is used to improve the appearance or quality of the skin or hair:

bath oil

oil / ɔɪl / noun (PAINT)

oils [ plural ] thick paints with an oil base, used for painting pictures:

Do you paint in oils or watercolours?

Collins Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary

oil

/ɔɪl/
(oils, oiling, oiled)

Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.

1.
Oil is a smooth, thick liquid that is used as a fuel and for making the parts of machines move smoothly. Oil is found underground.
The company buys and sells about 600,000 barrels of oil a day.
...the rapid rise in prices for oil and petrol.
...a small oil lamp.
N-MASS

2.
If you oil something, you put oil onto or into it, for example to make it work smoothly or to protect it.
A crew of assistants oiled and adjusted the release mechanism until it worked perfectly...
VERB: V n

3.
Oil is a smooth, thick liquid made from plants and is often used for cooking.
Combine the beans, chopped mint and olive oil in a large bowl...
N-MASS: usu n N

4.
Oil is a smooth, thick liquid, often with a pleasant smell, that you rub into your skin or add to your bath.
Try a hot bath with some relaxing bath oil...
N-MASS: usu supp N

5.
Oils are oil paintings.
Her colourful oils and works on paper have a naive, dreamlike quality.
N-COUNT: usu pl

6.
When an artist paints in oils, he or she uses oil paints.
When she paints in oils she always uses the same range of colours.
N-PLURAL

7.
see also castor oil, crude oil, olive oil

8.
If someone or something oils the wheels of a process or system, they help things to run smoothly and successfully.
On all such occasions, the king stands in the wings, oiling the wheels of diplomacy.
PHRASE: V inflects

Merriam-Webster's Advanced Learner's Dictionary

¹oil /ˈojəl/ noun, pl oils
1 [noncount]
a : a thick, black liquid that comes from the ground and that is used in making various products (such as gasoline)
• The price of crude oil is expected to rise.
• drilling for oil
- often used before another noun
• oil prices/companies/wells/refineries
• the oil industry
• The world's oil supplies/reserves are diminishing.
b : a type of oil that is used as a fuel to produce heat or light
• We heat our house with oil.
• heating oil
• an oil lamp
c : a type of oil that makes the different parts in an engine, machine, etc., run smoothly
• I asked the mechanic to check the oil. [=to make sure that there was enough oil to make the car engine run smoothly]
• A little bit of oil will help lubricate the chain.
2 [count, noncount] : a liquid substance that comes from a plant or animal, that contains fat, and that is used in cooking
• Add a little oil to the pan and stir-fry the onions.
• The dressing is made with oil, vinegar, and a pinch of herbs.
- see also castor oil, coconut oil, cod-liver oil, corn oil, essential oil, linseed oil, olive oil, palm oil
3 [count, noncount] : a smooth substance that is used on the skin, hair, or body to make it soft or healthy
• scented bath oils
4 a oils [plural] : oil paints
• He works mostly in oils. [=he mostly uses oil paints]
b [count] : an oil painting
• The exhibit includes oils and watercolors.
• an oil on canvas
a/the squeaky wheel gets the oil
- see ¹wheel
burn the midnight oil