oil-burner n.
1. (US) a tobacco chewer [US Navy oil, chewing tobacco].
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | ‘Midshipman Jargon’ in AS III:6 453: Oil burner—One who chews tobacco. |
2. (US) an exceptionally able or hard-working person [SE phr. burn the midnight oil].
| Wise-crack Dict. 11/2: Oil Burner – Student. | |
| Thief’s Primer 128: Of course I had one of the best attorneys in the country there. He said, ‘Boy, he’s an oil burner.’ ‘Yeah [...] He’s a good lawyer.’. |
3. (US drugs) in drug uses.
(a) (also oil-burning habit) an extremely heavy level of heroin addiction [predates oil n. (3e), therefore prob. SE phr. burn the midnight oil or play on the oil lamps that were used to heat opium + habit n. (1)].
| ‘Lang. of the Und. Narcotic Addict’ Pt 2 in Lang. Und. (1981) 106/2: oil-burning habit. A ravenous appetite for drugs. | |
| Who Live In Shadow (1960) 18: He’s got an oil-burning habit and no money with which to buy heroin. | |
| letter 7 July in Joint (1972) 184: They’ll both start using shit again, and then he’ll come back to Ma to kick the oil-burner. | |
| Shake Him Till He Rattles (1964) 121: I’m not studying no oil-burner of a habit and a hundred-dollar nut every day. | |
| Dopefiend (1991) 118: You better cut down on your bloes, Terry, or you’re going to end up with an oil burner. | |
| Homeboy 13: He supported his own oilburning habit slinging the same dope he shot. | |
 | ‘Pimp Game ’76’ in ThugLit Jan. [ebook] My dope habit became an oil burner. |
(b) an addict with a very high intake of narcotics.
| Naked Lunch (1968) 43: By adroit vein rotation a junky can piece out the odds if he don’t become an oil burner. |
4. a vehicle which, through a malfunctioning or dirty engine, uses up a disproportionate quantity of oil.
| Naked Lunch (1968) 30: Bought a Ford turned out to be an oil burner. |