[f. LUBRICATE v. + -OR.]
1. One who lubricates. In quot. fig.
1883. Earl Granville, in Standard, 3 May, 3/3. In the House of Commons you have some good oilers (laughter). I can conceive no better lubricators than, say, Lord Richard Grosvenor, Lord Kensington, Mr. Cotes, and Mr. Duff (cheers).
2. A lubricating substance; a lubricant. Photogr. An agent for glazing prints before burnishing.
1756. Burke, Subl. & B., IV. xxi. Water … is found, when not cold, to be a great resolver of spasms, and lubricator of the fibres.
1874. Abney, Instr. Photogr., xxxi. (1888), 255. For burnishing the print must be quite dry, and a dry lubricator used, Castile soap answering for that purpose.
b. transf. and fig.
1869. Spectator, 3 July, 780/2. If Lord Carnarvon will leave out one or two features in his proposal … we see no serious objection to its acceptance as a lubricator for the Bill.
1890. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Miner’s Right (1899), 81/1. Gold, the universal lubricator.
3. An oil-cup or other contrivance for lubricating a machine or instrument.
183[?]. E. J. Woolsey, in Ure, Dict. Arts (1839), 782. When you wish to see the quantity of oil remaining in the lubricator.
1871. C. H. Owen, Mod. Artillery, 133. The solid residue (from the powder) left within the bore after firing, would … foul the bore if allowed to remain in it; but this residue is got rid of by the lubricator. The lubricator consists of three parts.
1887. D. A. Low, Machine Draw. (1888), 32. The journal is lubricated by a needle lubricator.
4. U. S. slang. = GREASER 2.
1872. C. King, Mountain. Sierra Nev., xiv. 285. ‘String him up!’ ‘Burn the doggoned “lubricator!”’
