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lubricate (v.)
Related entries & more 1620s, "make slippery or smooth" (especially by the application of an oil), from Latin lubricatus, past participle of lubricare "to make slippery or smooth," from lubricus "slippery; easily moved, sliding, gliding;" figuratively "uncertain, hazardous, dangerous; seductive," from suffixed form of PIE root *sleubh- "to slip, slide." Related: Lubricated; lubricating. Earlier verb was lubrify (early 15c.), from Medieval Latin lubrificare.
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lube 1934, colloquial shortening of lubrication (n.); as a verb, short for lubricate, by 1961.
Related entries & more lubrication (n.)1640s, "act of lubricating," noun of action from lubricate (v.). Earlier was lubrifaction (1540s). Lubrification is from 1690s.
Related entries & more oil (v.)
Related entries & more "to smear or rub with oil or ointment," mid-15c., oilen, from oil (n.). Later especially "to lubricate (machinery)." Related: Oiled; oiling. An Old English verb in this sense was besmyrian.
grease (v.)mid-14c., "smear, lubricate, or anoint with grease or fat," from grease (n.). Sense of "ply with bribe or protection money" is 1520s, from notion of grease the wheels "make things run smoothly" (mid-15c.). To grease (someone's) palm is from 1580s. Expression greased lightning, representing something that goes very fast, is American English, by 1832.
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