oil, v. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

oil v.

1. (later use US) to persuade in some deceitful manner; to bribe.

c.1635		W. Cartwright Ordinary I iv: slic.: You must oil it first. cred.: I understand you: / Grease him i’th’ fist, you mean. There’s just ten pieces, / ’Tis but an earnest: If he bring’t about.
1649		F. Quarles Virgin Widow II i: Oyle thy tongue, that it may neatly cosen / Poor Country-fools.
1920		F. Packard White Moll 116: I can’t stop to oil that grouch out of you.
1920		A. Baer Two & Three 19 Mar. [synd. col.] He is paying an income tax, greasing the landlords, oiling the bill collectors and trying to make both ends meet.
1927		(con. 1900s) S. Lewis Elmer Gantry 180: Which did not prevent his securing some telling credit-information by oiling a book-keeper with several drinks.
1947		S. Lewis Kingsblood Royal (2001) 281: Stopple oiled them, ‘Now, now, you boys be good. We’re talking business!’.
1960		J. Havoc Early Havoc 17: He had ‘oiled’ the local authorities, so there had been no sanitation beefs, no beefs about too many people in one building [...] no beefs at all.

2. (later US black, also oil up) to beat, to whip.

c.1790		‘Patrick’s Day in the Morning’ Luke Caffrey’s Gost 3: But we made the Bugs for to remember, / The 17th of March when each brave member, / Did oil their hides with Irish timber.
1926		K.S. Prichard Working Bullocks 6: ‘Oil up the Major a bit,’ Red called to him. Chris Colburn whacked a sulky black bullock in the rear.
1941		F. Swados House of Fury (1959) 114: ‘Go on, Bonnie!’ the girls cried [...] ‘Sap ’er up, oil ’er up!’.
1997		Share Slanguage.

3. to drink; to become drunk; to render drunk, thus oiled, drunk.

1883		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 27 Oct. 2/4: This queerest of Micks / Then vented some hics — / He’d oiled something more than his ’sic-le.
1900		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘In Vino Veritas’ Sporting Times 30 June 1/4: It’s only the truth / That I deal in when I’ve—hic—been oiling!
1917		All Abaht It (London) Feb. (1919) 16: Everybody needs oiling again [AND].
1924		F.J. Mills Happy Days 155: There was three or four Frenchies oilin’ their Adam’s apples at the counter.
1941		C.R. Prance Tante Rebella and her Friends (1951) 139: Dolk invited all the Blankenhorsts in for a ‘sundowner’ of Welsh Whiskey, oiling them up to take his Great Thought.
1942		R.L. Bellem ‘Daughter of Murder’ Dan Turner – Hollywood Detective Dec. 🌐 I was fairly well oiled on Vat 69.
1973		(con. 1940s–60s) ‘Poor Little Angeline’ in Hogbotel & ffuckes Snatches and Lays 38: When he’d oiled her well, he took her to a dell.
1974		C. Loken Come Monday Morning 111: He oiled his gullet first.
1988		(con. WWII) J. Robinson Jack and Jamie Go to War 70: A Liverpool ‘do’ starts in a pub. Everyone gets oiled up.
2008		A. Wheatle Dirty South 138: That wine in the restaurant oiled me enough [...] it’s making me kinda giddy.
2009		L. McIlvanney All the Colours 79: ‘Talk to the punters — get them oiled’.

4. to move quietly, stealthily or in an underhand, surreptitious manner; also in combs. with various advs., e.g. around/in/out/through.

1922		M.E. Smith Adventures of a Boomer Op. 22: It was probably the last chance he’d ever get to oil around before they put the country on the bum.
1954		Wodehouse Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit 58: If I ever catch you oiling around her [...] I shall break your spine in four places.
1968		G. Mitchell Three Quick and Five Dead 35: Do you think the girl was pestering for marriage, but that James wanted to oil out? Could he have preferred murder?
1977		‘John le Carré’ Honourable Schoolboy 527: That twerp Enderby is oiling through the back door.

5. to pay.

1946

C.S. Montanye ‘Don’t Meddle with Murder’ in Thrilling Detective May 🌐 I oiled the hackie and steered Libby for the stage door.

6. (US black) to fight.

1971

Ellis & Newman ‘Six Ghetto Roles’ in Leacock Culture of Poverty (1971) 303: [T]he gowster may act out his role by undertaking a foray into enemy territory in order to ‘dust’ or ‘oil’ (fight) a ‘dude’.

7. to inject oneself with a drug, usu. heroin.

1981

personal informant in Spears Sl. and Jargon of Drugs and Drink (1986).

In derivatives

oiling (n.)

flattery.

1843

R.S. Surtees Handley Cross (1854) 381: This sort of hoiling won’t answer. Always one word for his host and two for himself.

In compounds

oiled behind (n.)

(US black) the buttocks, after a beating.

1944

‘Jiver’s Bible’ in D. Burley Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive.

oiled head (n.)

(US black) a head that has been beaten, usu. by the police.

1944

‘Jiver’s Bible’ in D. Burley Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive.

In phrases

oil in (v.)

to enter, to intrude.

1940		M. Marples Public School Slang 130: oil [...] to oil in=to obtain admission unfairly or join a group uninvited (Oundle, 1930+ [...] to oil in front, in a queue =to take a prior position unfairly (Oundle, 1980+).
1984		Partridge DSUE (8th edn).

oil it (v.) [SE phr. burn the midnight oil]

(US campus) to stay up late studying.

1975

G. Underwood ‘Razorback Sl.’ in AS L:1/2 63: oil itv phr Stay up late to study.

oil it up (v.)

(Aus.) to act in an ingratiating manner.

2012

(con. 1943) G.S. Manson Irish Fandango [ebook] Bloody hell, the old bugger was flirting with him. Better oil it up a bit.

oil out (of) (v.)

to escape one’s responsibility, to escape from an onerous duty or similar situation.

1925		Wodehouse Carry on, Jeeves 129: ‘Biffy, old egg,’ I said, ‘as man to man, do you want to oil out of this thing?’.
1940		M. Marples Public School Slang 130: to oil out of an engagement =to avoid it by means of excuses or otherwise unfairly. Hence at Wmchester (NB) oil=an evasion, and to oil= to avoid, or more specifically, to cut games.
1949		Wodehouse Mating Season 131: You couldn’t oil out of a big dinner party.
1954		Wodehouse Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit 15: Catsmeat would have been pained to his foundations if I had oiled out.
1960		Wodehouse Jeeves in the Offing 16: I toyed with the idea of sending a telegram of regret and oiling out.

oil the hand (v.) (also oil the fist, …palm)

to bribe.

1937		J. Tully Bruiser 233: I’ll have to oil Blinky Miller’s palm.
1939		K. Tennant Foveaux 258: He had no intention of being the scape-goat for all the Brethren of the Oiled Palm.
1993		G. Disher Deathdeal [ebook] ‘The palms down there are well oiled’.

oil the knocker (v.)

to tip or bribe a doorman or porter.

1937–84

Partridge DSUE (1984) 820/2: mid-C.19–early 20.

oil the machinery (v.)

to have a drink.

1898

Binstead & Wells A Pink ’Un and a Pelican 23: They are so puntiliously busy that only occasionally can they slip out to ‘oil the machinery’.

oil the tonsils (v.)

to have a drink.

1939		Western Mail (Perth) 30 Nov. 2/1: Snow’s gettin’ a bit hoarse and stops to oil his tonsils.
2001		Digital Korea Herald 10 Mar. 🌐 To oil the tonsils, we ordered Eegang-ju (30,000 won). Served in a celadon flask, this is a traditional pear and ginger concoction.

oil up (v.)

1. (Aus.) to drink, to have a drink.

1898		Bulletin (Sydney) 1 Oct. 14/3: To have a whisky is to ‘oil up’.
1902		C.L. Cullen More Ex-Tank Tales 44: We cut a quart into equal parts and oiled up on that.
1935		‘Tying Knots in the Devil’s Tail’ in Lingenfelter et al. Songs of the Amer. West (1968) 358: Them was the days when a Buckaroo / Could ile up his inside.

2. to bribe someone.

1894		J.K. Bangs Three Weeks in Politics 12: I tell you the thing can’t be done without oiling up the machine.
1960		E. De Roo Big Rumble 110: If I oiled him up, he’ll find out what’s in the back and forth from big Tony.

3. (Aus.) to impart information; to inform.

1926		Mirror (Perth) 6 Nov. 12/1: The husband had declined to play nark, although he had been oiled about the other cove’s capers.
1941		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl.
1955		N. Pulliam I Travelled a Lonely Land (1957) 236/2: oil up to – to inform.
1968		D. O’Grady Bottle of Sandwiches 30: I’ll oil you blokes up on what’s what.

4. to render drunk.

1941

C.R. Prance Tante Rebella and her Friends (1951) 139: Dolk invited all the Blankenhorsts in for a ‘sundowner’ of Welsh Whiskey, oiling them up to take his Great Thought.