Dictionary

oilpatch en · NOUN

Etymology

From oil + patch.

Meanings

1. A patch or puddle of oil.
   • This minority establishes itself at the most vulnerable zone of the national territory, and then slowly spreads like an oilpatch, propagating itself in concentric ripples through the peasant masses, to the smaller towns, and finally to the capital. 2002, Martin Legassick, Armed Struggle and Democracy: The Case of South Africa, page 24:
   • Near-synonyms: oil spot, oil slick
2. (informal) An oil and gas producing region; (metonymic) the oil and gas industry.
   • Like many men of that era and region, he wandered into the oilpatch and worked as a roustabout for a while.
   • "Texas Oil Patch Songs": [...] Willet [...] sings a dozen of his own songs having to do with oil workers [...] 1959 November 16, The Billboard, page 50:
   • "Alberta won't plug oilpatch" 2008 February 26, Edmonton Sun:
   • Fracturing the formation in the lingo of the oil patch is to perform a frac job. 2005, Martin S. Raymond, William L. Leffler, Oil & Gas Production in Nontechnical Language:

Forms

Relateds

roughneck · oil platform · Oil City · oily · oil rig · roustabout · oiler

Synonyms

oil slick · oil spot

Translations (3)

ru нефтяна́я промы́шленность (oil-and-gas industry) · ru нефтепро́м (oil-and-gas industry) · pl przemysł petrochemiczny (oil-and-gas industry)