Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To apply a lubricant to or make slippery.
- intransitive verb To facilitate or make easier.
- intransitive verb To cause to feel cheerful and sociable by the consumption of alcohol.
- intransitive verb To act as a lubricant.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To make smooth or slippery; supply or smear with some substance, especially one of an oily or greasy nature, for the purpose of diminishing friction: as, to
lubricate the bearings of a machine. - In photography, to coat or smear (a print) with some glazing agent, as Castile soap dissolved in alcohol, or a compound of beeswax and Venice turpentine, as a preliminary to burnishing.
- Slippery.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To make smooth or slippery.
- transitive verb To apply a lubricant to, as oil or tallow.
- transitive verb To reduce social frictions or difficulties between people, thus making cooperation easier and joint action smoother.
- transitive verb slang To inebriate by supplying with alcoholic beverages.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb To make slippery or smooth (normally to minimize friction) by applying a
lubricant .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb have lubricating properties
- verb make slippery or smooth through the application of a lubricant
- verb apply a lubricant to
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Also HAARP can facilitate earthquakes in that it boils water in thedeep rock layers and may 'lubricate' the faultlines to slip.
OpEdNews - Diary: I may be a nutjob but I wonder if this new flu was genetically engineered? 2009
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I use the term 'lubricate' because a recent study showed how researchers could pick out orgasmic women by simply watching them walk.
Suzie Heumann: Enlightened Sex: Movement For Freeing Orgasm 2009
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The State claims the money was meant to "lubricate" provincial approval of the R550 million project - approval that came only after the two men made personal interventions in the process.
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Another claims Reich was "sexually excited" during an exam and told her she needed to "lubricate" herself through self stimulation so that he could properly diagnose an infection.
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How to "lubricate" your joints … this will help your body produce more anti-inflammatory prostaglandins.
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The arabs could then use their oil to "lubricate" their camels.
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NASA wants to lubricate as much of the joint as possible to keep it functioning properly in the years ahead without any shuttle visits.
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Half were for drilling mud, the carefully engineered goo that was used to lubricate and cool the drill bit as it ground its way down through the rock beneath the surface of the ocean.
Gideon’s war Howard Gordon 2011
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The second was a more ambitious plan where Google would essentially create a scaffolding on the web to lubricate social activities.
In the Plex Steven Levy 2011
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Geophysicists talk about lubricating fault to prevent extreme rupture (very controversial); perhaps economists need to find a way to lubricate the economy so that bubbles will break earlier, thus causing less destruction.
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