oily, a. (adv. and n.)
(ˈɔɪlɪ)
[f. oil n.1 + -y.]
A. adj.
1. Of or pertaining to oil (in quot. a 1732, produced by the burning of oil); of the nature of or consisting of oil; having the consistence or appearance of oil. oily acid = fatty acid.
| 1528 Paynel Salerne's Regim. E ij, Chese..made conueniently of good mylke sufficiently oyly. 1552 Huloet, Oylye, or of oyle, oleaceus, olearis. 1615 tr. De Monfart's Surv. E. Indies 28 Being cut it expelleth a kind of fat oylie liquor. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 538 Sparkling Lamps their sputt'ring Light advance, And in the Sockets Oily Bubbles dance. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 84 Our men made some butter also..but it grew rank and oily. a 1732 Gay Poems (1745) I. 183 Oily rays Shot from the crystal lamp. 1807 T. Thomson Chem. (ed. 3) II. 441 Whether the oily principle in all the fixed oils is the same. 1898 Daily News 21 Aug. 5/3 The Atbara..was flowing swift and oily, but quietly, between its banks. |
2. a. Containing, full of, or impregnated with oil; smeared or covered with oil; greasy, fat.
| 1597 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, ii. iv. 575 This oyly Rascall is knowne as well as Poules. 1611 ― Wint. T. v. iii. 83 The ruddinesse vpon her Lippe is wet; You'le marre it, if you kisse it; stayne your owne With Oyly Painting. a 1756 Mrs. Heywood New Present (1771) 256 A piece of oily flannel. 1871 R. Ellis Catullus xxv. 2 Or glossy goose's oily plumes, or velvet ear-lap yielding. 1879 Browning Ned Bratts 44 He mopped his oily pate. |
b. oily grain, † corn, a name for the seed of Sesamum orientale.
| 1671 Salmon Syn. Med. iii. xxii. 431 Sesamum..Oyley corn..is Emollient and helps bruises [etc.]. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Suppl. App., Oily-grain, the name by which some call the Sessamum of botanical authors. 1857 Mayne Expos. Lex. |
c. oily wad, (a) a torpedo boat burning fuel-oil (disused); (b) a seaman without a special skill (see also quot. 1961).
| 1925 Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 213 Oily wads, a Navy nickname for a class of oil burning torpedo boat destroyers. 1929 F. C. Bowen Sea Slang 97 Oily Wads. The name occasionally applied to seamen in the Navy who do not specialise in anything, from the amount of time they have to spend cleaning brass-work with oily wads. 1931 ‘Taffrail’ Endless Story xxii. 344 Numbered from 1 to 36, they were generally known in the Service as the ‘oily wads’. 1932 Kipling Limits & Renewals 199 Some oily-wad of a Bulleana struck up about not having got his proper bird. 1961 F. H. Burgess Dict. Sailing 152 Oily wad, a seaman with no ambition. 1963 Times 13 June 17/1 His first command, which he held from May 1908, to January 1910, was torpedo boat no. 14 in the Home Fleet, one of the first oil-burning ships in the Navy, known to those serving in them as ‘oily wads’. |
3. fig. ‘Smooth’ in behaviour or (esp.) in speech; subservient, compliant, ‘supple’; bland, soothing, insinuating, fawning, ‘unctuous’; ‘slippery’.
| 1598 E. Guilpin Skial. (1878) 37 An oylie slaue: he angling for repute, Will gently entertaine thee. c 1605 Rowley Birth Merl. i. ii, By smoothing flattery or oily words. 1641 F. Greville Eng. Episc. i. vii. 36 Courtesies and Hopes are the most oylie Bribes. 1765 Duncombe in Lett. (1773) III. 149 He had a smooth oily tongue. 1784 Cowper Task iv. 64 Rills of oily eloquence. 1885 R. L. & F. Stevenson Dynamiter 171 Only oily and common-place evasion. 1894 H. Nisbet Bush Girl's Rom. 32 What had this oily scoundrel of a servant to do with it? |
B. adv. = oilily.
| c 1842 Tennyson in Mem. (1897) I. 196 The bay was oily calm. |
C. Comb., as oily-bathed, oily-brown, oily-like, oily-looking, oily-smooth, oily-tongued.
| 1807 T. Thomson Chem. (ed. 3) II. 180 Thick oily-like liquid. 1838 ― Chem. Org. Bodies 334 An oily-looking body will be observed in the retort. 1854 C. M. Yonge Little Duke v, An oily-tongued Count, who sat next the King. 1861 G. J. Whyte-Melville Mkt. Harb. 22 A decanter of oily-brown sherry. 1875 Browning Aristoph. Apol. 131 The verse slips oily-bathed In unctuous music. 1884 [Hamilton] Jaunt in Junk iv. 37 The oily-smooth rollers. |
D. n. An oilskin garment. Chiefly in pl.
| 1893–4 R. O. Heslop Northumb. Words II. 510 Oily, an oilskin coat. 1898 G. A. Rushton in W. A. Morgan ‘House’ on Sport I. 73 Still wind and rain the next day—but we..putting on our oilies went ashore and tramped for miles. 1933 E. A. Robertson Ordinary Families iv. 69 Soaked to the skin in spite of their oilies, Sootie and Ronald came down into the cabin. 1959 ‘A. Fraser’ High Tension x. 106, I..ran upstairs to put on a thick jersey... That and an oily would do. 1973 J. R. L. Anderson Death on Rocks vii. 127 His own oilies were in the club. |
Hence ˈoilyish, a. rare, somewhat oily.
| a 1722 Lisle Husb. (1752) 344 Give her a quart of cream..before it is turning to butter, viz. when it is oilyish. |