oleaginous, a.
(əʊliːˈædʒɪnəs)
[ad. F. oléagin-eux, -euse, f. L. oleāgin-us, -āgineus, -āginius, of or pertaining to olea the olive-tree; cf. (late) L. oleāgina the olive (Venant. Fort. c 600); also med.L. oleāgo, -āgin-em oily matter, such as in the bath was scraped from the oiled bodies of wrestlers.]
1. a. Having the nature or properties of oil; containing oil or an oily substance; oily, fatty, greasy.
| 1634 T. Johnson Parey's Chirurg. xxvi. xxiv. (1678) 645 There are three differences of these oleaginous juices. 1718 Chamberlayne Relig. Philos. (1730) I. xi. §14 Receptacles of a fat, or oleaginous Matter. 1799 Kirwan Geol. Ess. 332 The soft oleaginous state of the shales on which they are found. 1875 M. E. Braddon Strange World I. i. 2 Like the oleaginous scum that pollutes the surface of a city river. |
b. Producing oil.
| 1696 Phillips (ed. 5), Oleaginous,..out of which Oyl may be press'd. 1712 tr. Pomet's Hist. Drugs I. 154 Having in it a little oleaginous Kernel. 1848 Mill Pol. Econ. I. i. ii. §3. 43 Growing flax, hemp..oleaginous plants. 1881 Mivart Cat 296 Sebaceous and oleaginous glands. |
2. fig. = oily 3.
| 1859 Farrar Julian Home xx. 255 The lank party who snuffles the responses with such oleaginous sanctimony. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 406 The scent, the smile.., the dark eyes and oleaginous address. 1945 R. Hargreaves Enemy at Gate 31 The shifty, oleaginous, power-greedy place-man Olympius. 1966 Listener 18 Aug. 244/3 Many of the other works have a rather nasty oleaginous inconsistency of texture. 1973 Daily Tel. 13 Oct. 11/2 A piped programme that included an oleaginous instrumental version of part of a Chopin nocturne. 1976 National Observer (U.S.) 17 July 5/1 For years, the conferences have been sponsored and paid for by big companies and their oleaginous lobbyists. |
Hence † oleaˈginity, oleagiˈnosity, oleˈaginousness, † oleˈaginy, the quality of being oleaginous, oily nature; oleˈaginously adv.
| 1657 G. Starkey Helmont's Vind. 314 One part of Alcali will turn two or three parts of Oyl into meer Salt, without any the least oleaginity. 1678 R. R[ussell] Geber iv. ii. 241 The first Property of Differencies of the Medicine is Oleaginy. 1680 Boyle Produc. Chem. Princ. ii. 66 In speaking of the Oleaginousness of Urinous Spirits. 1694 Salmon Bate's Dispens. (1713) 126/1 Filtering and exhaling it to an Oleaginosity. 1861 J. Lamont Seasons w. Seahorses v. 69 From its oleaginousness it soon finds its own level in the casks. 1912 L. J. Vance Destroying Angel x. 119 Three doors, in one of which a rotund Chinaman beamed oleaginously. 1912 W. Deeping Sincerity xxxii. 247 His hands were fat, his neck full of red creases, his manner towards women oleaginously gallant. 1939 Joyce Finnegans Wake 54 Whileas oleaginosity of ancestralolosis sgocciolated down the both pendencies of his mutsohito liptails. |