Etymology From Middle English oyle, oile (“olive oil”), borrowed from Anglo-Norman olie, from Latin oleum (“oil, olive oil”), from Ancient Greek ἔλαιον (élaion, “olive oil”), from ἐλαία (elaía, “olive”). Compare Proto-Slavic *lojь. More at olive. Doublet of oleum. Supplanted Middle English ele (“oil”), from Old English ele (“oil”), also from Latin.
1
Liquid fat.
2
Petroleum-based liquid used as fuel or lubricant.
3
Petroleum.
Oil is found in countries such as Saudi Arabia and is transported all over the world.
The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania. The first barrels of crude fetched $18 (around $450 at today’s prices). It was used to make kerosene, the main fuel for artificial lighting after overfishing led to a shortage of whale blubber.2013 August 3, “Yesterday’s fuel”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847, archived from the original on 02 Aug 2020:
4
An oil painting.
Yet, in another way, I was unable to put Picasso's oils in the same class as Cezanne's, or even (which will no doubt shock many readers) as Renoir's.1973, John Ulric Nef, Search for meaning: the autobiography of a nonconformist, page 89:
Etymology From Middle English oilen, oylen, from the noun (see above).
1
To lubricate with oil.
Before they went to see Glinda, however, they were taken to a room of the Castle, where Dorothy washed her face and combed her hair, and the Lion shook the dust out of his mane, and the Scarecrow patted himself into his best shape, and the Woodman polished his tin and oiled his joints.1900 May 17, L[yman] Frank Baum, chapter 23, in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chicago, Ill.; New York, N.Y.: Geo[rge] M[elvin] Hill Co., →OCLC:
Platform faces in Holland are further back from the track than they are in Britain, and it is a common thing to see a driver standing quite comfortably between his engine and the platform while oiling the motion.1955 February, E. J. Tyler and J. Quanjer, “The Steam Locomotive in Holland 1919-1954”, in Railway Magazine, page 131:
1 more example
The face which emerged was not reassuring.[…]. He was not a mongol but there was a deficiency of a sort there, and it was not made more pretty by a latter-day hair cut which involved eccentrically long elf-locks and oiled black curls.1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 17, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
"Do you need a drink?" oils Robert Ryan to the disinterested Stanwyck in Clash By Night; "Let's say that's what I need," she sneers back.1984 December 22, Michael Bronski, “Women Act Out on Film”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 23, page 10: