oil

来自拉丁语oleum,油，橄榄油，词源同olive.后词义通用化，也用于指石油，原油等。

oil

oil: [12] Around the Mediterranean in ancient times the only sort of oil encountered was that produced by pressing olives, and so ‘oil’ was named after the olive. The Greek word for ‘olive’ was elaíā, and from it was derived elaíon ‘olive oil’. This passed into Latin as oleum, and reached English via Old French oile. By now it had begun to be applied to similar substances pressed from nuts, seeds, etc, but its specific modern use for the mineral oil ‘petroleum’ is a much more recent, essentially 19th-century development.
=> olive

oil (n.)

late 12c., "olive oil," from Anglo-French and Old North French olie, from Old French oile, uile "oil" (12c., Modern French huile), from Latin oleum "oil, olive oil" (source of Spanish, Italian olio), from Greek elaion "olive tree," from elaia (see olive). Old English æle, Dutch olie, German Öl, etc. all are from Latin. It meant "olive oil" exclusively till c. 1300, when meaning began to be extended to any fatty, greasy substance. Use for "petroleum" first recorded 1520s, but not common until 19c. The artist's oils (1660s), short for oil-color (1530s), are paints made by grinding pigment in oil.

oil (v.)

mid-15c., from oil (n.). Related: Oiled; oiling. An Old English verb in this sense was besmyrian.

1. The price of oil should remain stable for the rest of 1992.

油价会在1992年剩下的时间里保持稳定。

2. Check the oil at regular intervals, and have the car serviced regularly.

定期检查汽油，并对车辆进行定期维护。

3. The fossil fuels (coal and oil) are finite resources.

化石燃料（如煤和石油）属于有限资源。

4. Fire may have breached the cargo tanks and set the oil ablaze.

大火当时有可能把货船上的油罐烧漏了，从而引燃原油。

5. Petroleum engineers plan and manage the extraction of oil.

石油工程师规划并管理石油的提炼。