oleaginous

English

WOTD – 3 February 2009

Borrowed from French oléagineux, borrowed from Medieval Latin oleāginōsus (“oily”), from olea (“the olive tree or its fruit”).

oleaginous (comparative more oleaginous, superlative most oleaginous)

Oily, greasy.
- 1707, J[ohn] Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land. […], 2nd edition, London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for H[enry] Mortlock […], and J[onathan] Robinson […], published 1708, OCLC 13320837:
  
  […] the use of Linseed-oyl, Tar, or such oleaginous Matter, tends much to their Preservation and Duration.
- 1929, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Disintegration Machine‎:
  Looking back, it seemed to me that a slight oleaginous mist was still hovering round the chair.
- 2000, Joyce Carol Oates, Blonde, page 677:
  His once-black hair had faded to the color of used steel wool and now covered his bony skull in a peculiar oleaginous fuzz.
(of manner or speech) Falsely or affectedly earnest; persuasively suave.
The oleaginous salesman convinced me to buy a more expensive car.
- 2018 May 9, George F. Will, “Trump is no longer the worst person in government”, in The Washington Post:
  The oleaginous Mike Pence, with his talent for toadyism and appetite for obsequiousness, could, Trump knew, become America’s most repulsive public figure.

oily, greasy

falsely or affectedly earnest; persuasively suave

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