oil

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We had to "take out" Saddam because he would have endangered our access to oil (the implication being that the oil is ours).

—Palestine Blogs aggregator

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American Heritage Dictionary (10)

noun Any of numerous mineral, vegetable, and synthetic substances and animal and 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.

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Century Dictionary (189)

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. The oils are divided into three classes, which have very different chemical composition and properties: the fatty or fixed oils, essential or volatile oils, and the mineral oils. The fatty or fixed oils leave a permanent greasy stain on paper, are distinctly unctuous to the feel, and differ from fats chiefly in being liquid at ordinary temperatures. (See fat.) Both are triglycerides of the fatty acids. The fatty oils are of both animal and vegetable origin, and are subdivided into the drying and the non-drying oils. The former class includes all oils which thicken when exposed to the air through the absorption of oxygen. and are converted thereby into varnish, as, for example, linseed-, nut-, poppy-, and hempseed- oils. The non-drying oils when exposed to the air also undergo a change induced by fermentation, resulting in the formation of acrid, disagreeably smelling, acid substances. The fixed vegetable oils are generally prepared by subjecting the seeds of the plant to pressure; the animal oils are, for the most part, the fluid parts of the fat of animals. Fixed oils are used as lubricants, as sources of artificial light, for the manufacture of soaps, and for many other purposes in the arts. Essential or volatile oils are generally obtained by distilling the vegetables which afford them with water; they are acrid, caustic, aromatic, and limpid, and are mostly soluble in alcohol, forming essences. They boil at a temperature considerably above that of boiling water, some of them undergoing partial decomposition. Chemically considered, some are pure hydrocarbons (terpines), but most of them are mixtures of terpines with certain camphors and resins. They absorb oxygen quite rapidly, producing ozone, which gives to them bleaching properties. They are used chiefly in medicine and perfumery; and a few of them are extensively employed in the arts as vehicles for colors, and in the manufacture of varnishes, especially oil of turpentine. Mineral oils, petroleum and its derivatives, are mixtures of hydrocarbons, some being exclusively paraffins, others containing varying quantities of hydrocarbons of the ole-fine and benzene series. They are only of mineral origin, while the fatty and essential oils are solely of animal and vegetable origin. The mineral oils are now most largely used as sources of artificial light. Oil has been used for religious and ceremonial purposes under Judaism and Christianity as well as in other religions. Under the Mosaic law it was mingled with or poured upon the flour or meal of the offerings at the consecration of priests and Levites, those at the daily sacrifices, etc., and “meat-offerings” (meal-offerings) in general. Kings, priests, and prophets were anointed with oil (whence the title Messiah or Christ). The oil for the sanctuary and for unction of priests was mixed with myrrh, cinnamon, calamus, and cassia (Ex. xxx. 22–33). In the Christian church anointing inanimate objects with oil signifies hallowing or dedicating them to God, and unction of persons symbolizes the bestowal of the gifts or graces of the Holy Ghost and personal consecration to God's service. See the phrase holy oil, below. For the use of oil in storms at sea. see oil-distributer. With an Instrument of Sylver, he frotethe the Bones; and thanne ther gothe out a lytylle Oyle, as thoughe it were a maner swetynge, that is nouther lyche to Oyle ne to Bawme; but it is fulle swete of smelle. Mandeville, Travels, p. 60. Here first she bathes, and round her body pours Soft oils of fragrance, and ambrosial show'rs. Pope, Iliad, xiv. 198.
Specifically Oil as used for burning in a lamp, to afford light: as, to burn the midnight oil (alluding to nocturnal study). In reason whereof, I am perswaded that none of indifferent judgmente shall think his oyle and labour lost. Touchstone of Complexions, Pref., p. vii. (Davies.)
A cut of oil the quantity of oil from one cutting in—that is, yielded by one whale.

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Examples (47)

We had to "take out" Saddam because he would have endangered our access to oil (the implication being that the oil is ours). — Palestine Blogs aggregator
"The residue of the oil is all over our fences, there were brown spots in the yard where it killed the grass." — WTOP / Business / Biz Stories
Clearly the oil was a large part of what gave Miracle Whip its flavor and texture. — The Moderate Voice
Mentha oil is attempting an upthrust that will be confirmed only if the price stays above the Rs 555 levels. — Daily News & Analysis
• Canola oil is an edible, refined vegetable oil that can be used to control insects on a wide variety of crops with no adverse effects on humans or the environment. — The Seattle Times

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gas · food · product · salt · water · acid · powder · wine · metal · supply · plant · fluid

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

American Heritage Dictionary (1)

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

Century Dictionary (2)

Early modern English oile, oyle (dial. ile); from Middle English oile, oyl, oyle, oille, oylle, oycle, from Anglo-French oile, olie, Old French oile, oille, ole, uile, French huile = Provencal ol, oli = Spanish oleo, Old Spanish olio = Portuguese oleo = Italian olio = Anglo-Saxon ele, æle (which appears in English aneal, anele) = OFries. olie = Dutch olie = Old Low German olig, Middle Low German olie, oley, oli, olige, olge, Low German olie = Old High German olei, oli, ole, Middle High German olei, ole, ol, öle, öl, German öl = Icelandic Swedish olja = Danish olie (cf. Old Bulgarian olej (olei) = Croatian ulje = Servian olaj, ulje = Bohemian Polish olej = Russian olei = Hungarian olaj = Albanian uli, from Old High German or G.) = Welsh olew = Gaelic uill, olath, from Latin oleum = Gothic (Moesogothic) alew = Old Bulgarian jelej (ielei) = Lithuanian alejus = Lettish elje, oil, from Greek ἒλαιον, oil, especially and orig. olive-oil; cf. ἐλαια, an olive-tree (see Elæis, etc.). It thus appears that all the forms are ult. from the Greek, the Teutonic (except Gothic) and Celtic through the Latin, and the Gothic and older Slavic forms directly from the Greek.
from Middle English oilen, oylen, from Old French oilier = French huiler = Italian ogliare, from Middle Latin *oleare, oil, from Latin oleum, oil: see oil, n. Cf. anoil, aneal.

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/ɔɪl/

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