oil

English Online Dictionary. What means oil‎? What does oil mean?

English

Alternative forms

• oyl (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• enPR: oil, IPA^(key): /ɔɪ(ə)l/, [ɔɪ(ə)ɫ]
• (Southern US) IPA^(key): /ɔl̴/

• Homophone: Oi'll
• Rhymes: -ɔɪl

Etymology 1

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.

Noun

oil (countable and uncountable, plural oils)

2. Liquid fat.
4. Petroleum-based liquid used as fuel or lubricant.
5. Petroleum.
6. (countable) An oil painting.
7. (painting) Oil paint.

8. (attributive) Containing oil, conveying oil; intended for or capable of containing oil.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English oilen, oylen, from the noun (see above).

Verb

oil (third-person singular simple present oils, present participle oiling, simple past and past participle oiled)

1. (transitive) To lubricate with oil.
2. (transitive) To grease with oil for cooking.
3. (transitive) To fuel with oil.
4. To say in an unctuous manner.

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

• ILO, LOI, Loi, Oli

Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛlʲ/, /ɪlʲ/

Etymology 1

From Old Irish ail, oil (“disgrace, reproach”).

Noun

oil f (genitive singular oile)

1. (literary) disgrace, reproach; act of reproaching
2. (literary) blemish, defect

Declension

Etymology 2

From Old Irish ailid, oilid (“nourishes, rears, fosters”) (compare altram (“fosterage”), from a verbal noun of ailid).

Verb

oil (present analytic oileann, future analytic oilfidh, verbal noun oiliúint, past participle oilte)

1. (transitive) nourish, rear, foster

   Proverb: Gach dalta mar a oiltear. ― Every fosterling as it is reared.

2. (transitive) train, educate

   lámh oilte ― practised hand

Conjugation

Derived terms

• ailiúnas

Etymology 3

Noun

oil f (genitive singular oileach, nominative plural oileacha)

1. Alternative form of ail (“stone, rock”)

Declension

Etymology 4

Verb

oil (present analytic oileann, future analytic oilfidh, verbal noun oiliúint, past participle oilte)

1. (intransitive) Alternative form of oir (“suit, fit, become”)

Conjugation

Mutation

References

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “oil”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN

Middle English

Noun

oil

1. Alternative form of oyle

Old French

Etymology 1

From o +‎ il, possibly from:

• Vulgar Latin *hoc ille, from Latin hoc + ille (“this [is what] he [said]”), akin to o je, o tu, o nos, o vos, all ‘this’ constructed with other personal pronouns;
• hoc illud (“this is it, lit. this that”).

In any case, an elliptical phrase of response, by semantic erosion/grammaticalization possibly calqued on Gaulish: compare Portuguese and Spanish isso and eso (“yes, yeah”, literally “this”), Celtic languages such as Old Irish tó (“yes”), Welsh do (“indeed”), from *tod (“this, that”).

Compare with Old French o, ou, oc, ec, euc, uoc, Old Occitan oc (Occitan òc), all from the simple Latin hoc.

Alternative forms

• oïl (almost always used by scholars to disambiguate with other meanings)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /uˈil/

Adverb

oil

1. yes

Interjection

oil

1. yes

Descendants

• French: oui, voui, ouais
  • Haitian Creole: wi
  • → English: oui
  • Maori: Wīwī (“France”)
• Norman: oui (Guernsey)

References

Etymology 2

See ueil.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɔ(i̯)ʎ/

Noun

oil oblique singular, m (oblique plural ouz or oilz, nominative singular ouz or oilz, nominative plural oil)

1. Alternative form of ueil

Simeulue

Noun

oil

1. water
2. sap

References

• Blust's Austronesian Comparative Dictionary