oiling, vbl. n.
(ˈɔɪlɪŋ)
[f. oil v. + -ing1.]
The action of the verb oil.
1. a. The application of oil; anointing, lubrication, etc. with oil. Also, oil pollution; the discharge of oil from a ship.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 364/1 Oylyynge wythe oyle, oleacio. 1562 Burn. Paules Ch., Theyr Sacramente of an oylinge. 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing x. ¶5 So oft as the Nut and Spindle shall want Oyling. 1949 Brit. Birds XLII. 378 No signs of oiling were visible. 1970 Nature 9 May 573/2 A recent ‘routine’ winter oiling along the east coast of Scotland exacted a known toll of about 8,000 seabirds. |
b. spec. The covering of the surface of water with oil. Cf. oil v. 1 c.
| 1887 Pall Mall G. 23 Aug., The sea had lost its power by reason of the oiling... The oiling was continued seven hours, and the small quantity of 5 lbs. was used. 1910 R. Ross et al. Prevention of Malaria vi. 270 (heading) Oiling. 1927 P. Hehir Malaria in India 313 Anopheles larvæ succumb to oiling more readily than Culex larvæ. 1949 F. C. Bishopp in M. F. Boyd Malariology II. lxi. 1340/1 Malaria cases have also been markedly reduced on estates where oiling has been practiced regularly. 1966 P. H. Manson-Bahr Manson's Trop. Dis. (ed. 16) iv. 70 Oiling kills mosquito larvæ probably in several ways. |
2. Turning into oil, or into the consistence of oil.
| 1727 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Flummery, Beat with some Spoonfuls of Milk for Fear of Oiling. 1769 Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 7 Putting in now and then a little cream to prevent them [almonds] from oiling. |
3. The taking of oil on board, esp. for fuel.
| 1906 Westm. Gaz. 27 Feb. 2/1 The difficulties in the way of ‘oiling’, to coin a word to correspond to ‘coaling’, at foreign ports. 1923 Man. Seamanship (Admiralty) II. 79 (heading) Oiling from an oiler. |
4. The action of to oil out (cf. oil v. 1 b).
| 1859 [see oil v. 1 b]. 1962 R. G. Haggar Dict. Art Terms 231/2 Oiling out, in oil painting, the process of bringing out passages which have sunk in; a drying oil is applied.., the excess is removed and the surface gently polished. |