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well-oiled machine. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
well-oiled machine, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
well-oiled machine in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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well-oiled machine will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
well-oiled machine, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
The figurative sense is an extension from the literal sense.
Noun
well-oiled machine (plural well-oiled machines)
- (idiomatic, figurative) Something that operates capably through the effective coordination of many parts.
run like a well-oiled machine
Our office runs like a well-oiled machine.
Our office is a well-oiled machine.
2008, Zane, Succulent: Chocolate Flava II, page 2:Trevor was the firm's facilities manager and it was his job to make sure that their office ran like a well-oiled machine and that the partners, attorneys, and staff were comfortable.
2007, Jeanine Basinger, The Star Machine, page 13:A movie studio in the so-called golden era was a well-oiled machine with everything needed to make movies right in place on the studio lot.
2004, Carolyn Orange, 44 Smart Strategies for Avoiding Classroom Mistakes, page 16:Contrary to this dismal picture is the popular concept of the classroom that runs like a well-oiled machine, smoothly, flawlessly, functioning at full capacity, producing maximum output.
- 1850, The Knickerbocker; or, New-York monthly magazine, "Editor's Table", p. 573:
- The writer is never enthusiastic and rarely Imaginative. His lines flow with the smoothness of a well-oiled machine.
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see well-oiled, machine.