greasy vs oily what difference

what is difference between greasy and oily

English

Etymology

From Middle English gresi, gressy, equivalent to grease +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹi.si/, (especially Southern U.S.) /ˈɡɹi.zi/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹiː.si/
• Rhymes: -iːsi, -iːzi

Adjective

greasy (comparative greasier, superlative greasiest)

1. Having a slippery surface; having a surface covered with grease.

   a greasy mineral

   • c. 1606, William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, Act V, Scene 2,^[1]

     […] mechanic slaves

     With greasy aprons, rules, and hammers, shall

     Uplift us to the view […]

   • 1961, V. S. Naipaul, A House for Mr Biswas, London: André Deutsch, Part One, Chapter 2, p. 54,^[2]

     it was in the garage that Alec worked, […] doing mysterious greasy things. Grease blackened his hairy legs; grease had turned his white canvas shoes black; grease blackened his hands even beyond the wrist; grease made his short working trousers black and stiff. Yet he had the gift, which Mr Biswas admired, of being able to hold a cigarette between greasy fingers and greasy lips without staining it.

2. Containing a lot of grease or fat.
   • c. 1795, Margaret Taylor, Mrs. Taylor’s Family Companion: or The Whole Art of Cookery Display’d, London: W. Lane, “To fry flat Fish,” p. 37,^[3]

     Before you dish them up, lay them upon a drainer before the fire sloping, for two or three minutes, which will prevent their eating greasy.
3. (slang) shady, sketchy, dodgy, detestable, unethical.
4. (obsolete) fat, bulky
   • c. 1600, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act II, Scene 1,^[6]

     Let’s consult together against this greasy knight.

5. (obsolete) gross; indelicate; indecent
   • 1601, John Marston, Jack Drum’s Entertainment, London: Richard Olive, Act I,^[7]

     Now I am perfect hate, I lou’d but three things in the world, Philosophy, Thrift, and my self. Thou hast made me hate Philosophy. A Vsurers greasie Codpeece made me loath Thrift: but if all the Brewers Iades in the town can drug me from loue of my selfe, they shall doo more then e’re the seuen wise men of Greece could […]

6. (of a horse) Afflicted with the disease called grease.

Derived terms

• greasily
• greasiness
• greasy pole
• greasy spoon
• nongreasy
• ungreasy

Translations

Anagrams

• Gareys, Gearys, Yagers, gayers, gyrase, re-gays, yagers

English

Alternative forms

• oyly (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English oylei, equivalent to oil +‎ -y. Compare German ölig (“oily”), Swedish oljig (“oily”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɔɪli/
• Rhymes: -ɔɪli

Adjective

oily (comparative oilier, superlative oiliest)

1. Relating to or resembling oil.
   • 1895, H. G. Wells, The Time Machine, Chapter 11,^[1]

     There were no breakers and no waves, for not a breath of wind was stirring. Only a slight oily swell rose and fell like a gentle breathing, and showed that the eternal sea was still moving and living.

2. Covered with or containing oil.
   • 1853, Herman Melville, “Bartleby, the Scrivener,”^[2]

     His clothes were apt to look oily and smell of eating-houses.

   • 1917, Robert Hichens, In the Wilderness, Chapter ,^[3]

     […] overdressed young men of enigmatic appearance, with oily thick hair, shifty eyes, and hands covered with cheap rings, swaggered about smoking cigarettes and talking in loud, ostentatious voices.

3. (figuratively) Excessively friendly or polite but insincere.
   • c. 1605, William Shakespeare, King Lear, Act I, Scene 1,^[4]

     […] for I want that glib and oily art

     To speak and purpose not, since what I well intend,

     I’ll do’t before I speak […]

   • 1848, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, Chapter 22,^[5]

     Mr Carker the Manager, sly of manner, sharp of tooth, soft of foot, watchful of eye, oily of tongue, cruel of heart, nice of habit, sat with a dainty steadfastness and patience at his work, as if he were waiting at a mouse’s hole.

   • 1914, Algernon Blackwood, “The Damned,”^[6]

     ‘He had an inflexible will beneath all that oily kindness which passed for spiritual […] ’

Derived terms

• oiliness
• smell of an oily rag

Translations

Noun

oily (plural oilies)

1. A marble with an oily lustre.
   • 1998, Joanna Cole, Stephanie Calmenson, Michael Street, Marbles: 101 ways to play

     Lustered (also called lusters, rainbows, oilies, and pearls).

   • 2001, Paul Webley, The economic psychology of everyday life (page 39)

     But marbles are not only used to play games: they are also traded. In this market, the value of the different kinds of marbles (oilies, emperors, etc.) is determined by local supply and demand and not by the price of the marbles […]

2. (in the plural, informal) Oilskins. (waterproof garment)

Please follow and like us: