oil

noun

1 used as fuel/to make machines work smoothly

ADJECTIVE

▪ heavy

▪ light

▪ crude

▪ refined

▪ offshore

▪ mineral

▪ engine, fuel, heating, lubricating, motor

▪ linseed

▪ paraffin (usually just paraffin) (BrE) (kerosene in AmE)

▪

Use a rag soaked in paraffin oil.

… OF OIL

▪ barrel

▪ film

▪

a rod coated with a film of oil

▪ drop

VERB + OIL

▪ extract, obtain, produce

▪ drill for

▪

The company is drilling for oil in the North Sea.

▪ discover, find, strike

▪ pump

▪ export, import

▪ burn, use

▪ change, check (in a car, etc.)

▪ soak sth in

▪ smell of

▪

The place smelled of oil.

OIL + NOUN

▪ company, producer

▪ man (usually oilman)

▪ baron, magnate, sheikh

▪ industry, production

▪ drilling, exploration

▪ field, rig, well

▪ pipeline

▪ drum

▪ tanker

▪ refinery

▪ prices, revenue

▪ reserves, supplies

▪ slick, spill, spillage

▪

a seven-mile-long oil slick off the Alaskan coast

2 used in cooking

ADJECTIVE

▪ cooking

▪ hydrogenated (esp. AmE), polyunsaturated

▪ rancid

▪ coconut, canola (AmE), corn, groundnut (BrE), olive, palm, peanut, rapeseed (esp. BrE), sesame, soya bean (BrE), soybean (AmE), sunflower, vegetable

▪

a bottle of extra virgin olive oil

▪ salad

VERB + OIL

▪ heat

▪ boil sb/sth in, cook sth in, fry sth in

▪ drizzle, pour

▪

Toast the bread, rub with garlic and drizzle over a little olive oil.

PREPOSITION

▪ in oil

▪

Fry the potato in a little sunflower oil.

3 used as a cosmetic/fragrance/medicine

ADJECTIVE

▪ aromatic, fragrant, scented

▪ essential

▪

essential oils extracted from flowers

▪ natural

▪ body, hair

▪ baby, bath

▪ aromatherapy, massage

▪ cod liver, fish, omega-3

▪

A daily dose of omega-3 fish oil will help children to concentrate better.

▪ castor, evening primrose, flaxseed, lavender, tea tree, etc.

VERB + OIL

▪ massage, rub

▪

She rubbed a scented oil into her hair.

▪ massage sth with, rub sth with

▪ anoint sb/sth with

▪

The sick were anointed with oil.

▪ extract

PREPOSITION

▪ oil of

▪

oil of rosemary