[f. L. lūbricāt-, ppl. stem of lūbricāre, f. lūbric-us LUBRIC.]
1. trans. To make slippery or smooth; to render smooth the motion or action of (something) by applying a fluid or unguent.
1623. Cockeram, Lubricate, to make slipper.
1732. Arbuthnot, Rules of Diet, 425. Relaxing and lubricating the passages and quieting the Spasms by Opiates.
1806. Med. Jrnl., XV. 574. A fluid which serves to lubricate the canal for the passage of the fæces.
1835–6. Todd, Cycl. Anat., I. 307/1. There are two glands which secrete a fluid to lubricate the ball of the eye.
1862. Tyndall, Mountaineer., vi. 43. The liquid appeared to lubricate every atom of my body.
1866. Tate, Brit. Mollusks, iv. 68. All molluscous animals secrete a mucous fluid to lubricate the skin.
b. To apply oil or some other substance to (a machine) in order to minimize the friction and make it run easily.
1742. Young, Nt. Th., IX. 2186. Man’s … balmy bath, That supples, lubricates, and keeps in play, The various movements of this nice machine.
1789. E. Darwin, Bot. Gard., I. (1791), Notes 21. He used oil or grease to … lubricate the cylinder.
1863. Tyndall, Heat, i. § 9 (1870), 8. We are careful to lubricate the axles of our railway carriages.
c. gen. To oil or grease.
1791. Cowper, Odyss., XVII. 105. Wash’d and lubricated with fresh oils.
1866. Livingstone, Last Jrnls. (1873), I. xii. 315. Dark brown fat which they use to ‘lubricate’ their hair.
d. Photogr. To cover (a print) with a glazing agent as a preliminary to burnishing.
1892. Woodbury, Encycl. Photogr., s.v. Burnisher, The face of the mounted print is lubricated with soap.
2. transf. and fig.
1784. Cowper, Task, IV. 65. Here rills of oily eloquence in soft Meanders lubricate the course they take.
1833. Coleridge, Table-t., 6 July. Fine music … has a sensible effect in … animating and as it were, lubricating my inventive faculty.
1856. Emerson, Eng. Traits, xvii., Wks. (Bohn), II. 130. There seemed a pool of honey about his heart, which lubricated all his speech and action with fine jets of mead.
b. slang. To ply with drink; also intr. to drink (Farmer, Slang, 1896).
1900. Daily Express, 26 June, 7/3. His late employers … had … dismissed him for … ‘lubricating the police.’
3. absol. or intr. To act as a lubricant.
1726. Leoni, trans. Alberti’s Archit., II. 11/1. Between the Axis and the Circle in which it turns, there shou’d be somewhat to lubricate.
1739. S. Sharp, Operat. Surg., 77. The Patient is … relieved by … the Mucilaginous, the Saponaceous, &c. [remedies], some of which lubricate, and others both lubricate and stimulate.
