Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A heavily spiced stew of meat, vegetables, and chickpeas.
- n. A mixture or medley; a hodgepodge.
- n. A collection of various artistic or literary works or musical pieces; a miscellany.
- n. Vaudeville or musical entertainment presented between the acts of a burlesque or minstrel show.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A savory dish composed of a great variety of ingredients, as stewed meat, herbs, etc.
- n. A mixture; a medley.
- n. A miscellany; a collection of various pieces: chiefly applied to a musical collection.
Wiktionary
- n. A rich, thick, Spanish stew consisting of meat and vegetables.
- n. A mixture or medley, a hotchpotch.
- n. A collection of various musical, theatrical or other artistic works; a miscellany.
- n. By extension of the above, Vaudeville or similar miscellaneous musical or theatrical entertainment skits presented between the main acts of minstrel or burlesque shows.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. obsolete A dish of stewed meat of different kinds.
- n. A mixture; a medley.
- n. (Mus.) A collection of miscellaneous pieces.
Etymologies
- From Spanish olla or Portuguese olha, both from Latin olla ("pot, jar"). (Wiktionary)
- Alteration of Spanish olla, pot; see olla. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“By that time the sediment in olio nuovo will have begun to oxidize in a dark pool at the bottom of the bottle, and the oil will become rancid.”
“We don ' t learn from Mr. Martin why actors and comedians refer to such little routines as " olio " acts.”
“After each show there would be " a ten-minute ' olio ' segment, " with an actor or two coming out to perform their specialties.”
“Behind the tormentors is a curtain called the "olio," which fulfills the triple purpose of hiding the rest of the stage, serving as scenery for acts in One and often as a curtain to raise and lower on acts playing in the space back of One.”
“brightest eyes that ever have shone" glitter yet more gloriously, till in their nearer and dearer splendor a Chaldean would forget the stars; and the "sweetest lips that ever were kissed" sip the creaming Verzenay, or savor the delicate "olio," with a keener honesty of zest.”
“The simplest and most basic of all pasta suppers, spaghettini aglio e olio is made from ingredients most of us have in the cupboard.”
The Guardian: Nigel Slater's classic spaghettini aglio e olio
“Cupboard love: Nigel Slater's classic spaghettini aglio e olio.”
The Guardian: Nigel Slater's classic spaghettini aglio e olio
“Anyhow, my favorite quick/healthy/easy meal as of late is usually some sort of variation on the olio e aglio pasta (oil and garlic).”
“While the Kinshaya envoy, Patriarch Radrigi, remained conspicuously mute, the Gorn, Tholian, and Breen diplomats filled the room with a discordant olio of hisses, chirps and clicks, and electronic warbles.”
Simon & Schuster: Star Trek: Typhon Pact: Rough Beasts of Empire
“I could make a little aglio e olio pasta with garlic and olive oil.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘olio’.
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WWF WTF?
Ever play "Words With Friends" with someone and they throw down some strange, unlikely group of letters that makes even the most mild and squeaky clean tongued person say "whiskey tango foxtrot"? ...
oorie, sangar, merl, cwm, doum, weir, jura, invar, lawine, tapa, waw, shog and 376 more...
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Sue's favorite words
panache, flair, pantaloons, periwinkle, pumpernickel, persnickety, cachet, coquette, élan, iris, ambrosia, keen and 99 more...
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phrontistery - o
from phrontistery.info
ozostomia, ozoniferous, oxytone, oxytocic, oxyphonia, oxymoron, oxygeusia, oxyblepsia, oxyacanthous, oxter, oxyacaesthesia, owling and 504 more...
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To Define Collections
pasticcio, olio, compendium, assemblage, menagerie, miscellanea, farrago, hotchpot, omnium-gatherum, cento, gallimaufry, anthology and 2 more...
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A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of...
amalgam, medley, conglomerate, pastiche, mishmash, motley, miscellaneous, various, sundry, congeries, potpourri, omnifarious and 5 more...
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Vaudeville
The show must go on . . . .
vaudeville, dumb act, Polite Vaudeville, hoofer, flop, gag, cakewalk, top banana, second banana, Orpheum Circuit, play the Palace, The Palace and 55 more...
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Collections
Have I made this list before? Has someone else collected these words together? I can't remember, so I'm just going to start storing some things here.
collection, omnium-gatherum, sylloge, antiphonary, anthology, bestiary, cartulary, dossier, sampler, assortment, variety, hodgepodge and 65 more...
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ash vocab
flippant, fillip, expiate, explicate, extirpate, facile, florid, fealty, allegiance, fetid, febrile, pert and 134 more...
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cross words
the good ole boys of the nyt crossword puzzle
oleo, oreo, stlo, amie, ares, eros, erato, sloe, ogee, apse, enola, ecru and 94 more...
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kimo2000's Words
pakalolo, miliated, voodoo, vindaloo, hacienda, acquiesce, addlepated, olio, akimbo, apropos, oogenesis, arugula and 181 more...
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wickedwitch's list
lll
alit, plinth, eclat, diaphanous, portico, nival, daedal, apse, fossa, pellet, avail, midge and 143 more...
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Words that were new to me
but now they're not because I looked them up. In cases of polysemy or homography, *of course* it was the oddest meaning that stumped me. ;)
Procrustean bed, idem sonans, hob, backcap, quango, cheap-jack, pantechnicon, churrigueresco, chopfallen, maritorious, supererogation, catimini and 212 more...
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Rabindranath Not Included
i can't never forget thiccyn's!
bubaline, dezinkhornifistib..., hirundine, bee veil, cuckoo spit, resistentialism, hobthrush, burniebee, hookem-snivey, fattiehead, mompyns, mons and 142 more...
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Gil Blas
Interesting words and usages from Smollett's 1749 translation of Lesage's L'Histoire de Gil Blas de Santillane
reck, durance, rhodomontade, hangdog, trap, lustre, pin, boggle, dandle, birthday suit, colic, gripes and 238 more...
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Damieng's Words
lupine, sapor, boz imp, imp, ovine, saracen, haberdashery, tiebar, shill, cutler, cutaway, lucite and 218 more...
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5-0
Hecko, words! I’m so happy I’ve found you. I want to keep you all and never want to lose you again. I hope you like it here.
amscray, thistledown, tine, tinsel, pungent, snarl, wail, lanky, viscid, dawdle, luminous, stow and 2719 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for olio.

bilby Italian - oil. Nov 1, 2008
yarb As, added he, now only ask your carrier what sort of a man I am. By all the powers of seasoning! I would defy the best cook in Madrid or Toledo to make an olio at all to be compared to mine.
- Lesage, The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane, tr. Smollett, bk 10 ch. 12 Oct 9, 2008
whichbe Miscellany; potpourri. (from Phrontistery) May 23, 2008