Green’s Dictionary of Slang

well-oiled adj.

very drunk.

1892		Hull Dly Mail 2 Dec. 3/7: Very Well Oiled [...] he was neverthel;ess fined 5s, which the ‘well-oiled’ gentleman, if he had any gratitude [...] will at once pay up.
1899		A. Binstead Gal’s Gossip 169: He was certainly well ‘oiled.’.
1919		C.H. Thorp Handful of Ausseys 162: Spending leave will often necessitate their getting ‘well-oiled’ in some public house.
1924		P. Marks Plastic Age 251: Cynthia had assured him that she would dance until doomsday if he kept her ‘well oiled with hooch.’.
1934		Wodehouse Right Ho, Jeeves 245: What he had omitted to mention was that I had invariably been well-oiled at the time.
c.1940–5		‘Myles na gCopaleen’ Best of Myles (1968) 338: Drunk; jarred; [...] oiled; well-oiled.
1981		P. Wright Cockney Dialect and Sl. 91: He becomes [...] sozzled or well-oiled.
1998		Guardian Guide 25–31 July 16: A well-oiled Bruce Robinson, writer and director of Withnail & I.
2000		S. Maloney Big Ask 40: All six were in their mid-twenties, well oiled and kicking on.