oils

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of oil.

   Essential oils are extracted from plants for use in perfumes and remedies.

   Refineries separate crude petroleum into a range of lighter and heavier oils.

   Note

   A plural that counts kinds rather than quantities: vegetable oils, mineral oils, the lighter and heavier grades a refinery separates. Because a single oil painting is also called an oil, a gallery's oils are its paintings, and context tells you which is meant. The same spelling serves the verb meaning 'lubricates', so fine oils and she oils the hinge involve two different words.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of oil.

   The mechanic oils every moving part before sending the car out.

   A good cook oils the pan lightly so the eggs slide free.

   Note

   Every reading of the verb uses this form, and most of them need an object: she oils the hinge, the cook oils the pan, the depot oils the fleet. The odd one out is the figurative sense of saying something unctuously. There, oils describes smooth, ingratiating speech rather than grease, so it behaves more like a verb of saying than a verb of doing.

Showing meanings only. Show all 2