Meanings
present singular third person lubricates · participle present lubricating · participle past lubricated · past lubricated
- humorousTo cause someone to become drunk, especially to make them more sociable or talkative.
They listened with wonder and pride at their album as it played several times throughout the afternoon, with Cosmo lubricating them with beer and whiskey.
2021, Robert A. Webster, Fossils1 more example
At Göbekli Tepe, a site in what is now modern-day Turkey we'll talk about more below, hunter-gatherers convened regularly throughout the tenth to eighth millennia BCE to feast on gazelles, build circular structures, and erect enormous T-shaped limestone pillars carved with mysterious pictograms and animal forms–probably all while well-lubricated with beer.
2021, Edward Slingerland, Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo make slippery or smooth (normally to minimize friction) by applying a lubricant.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*slewbʰ-“slip, slide”
- Latinlūbricātus
- Englishlubricate
Borrowed from Latin lūbricātus, perfect passive participle of lūbricō (“make slippery”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) for more), from lūbricus (“slippery”). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *slewbʰ- (“slip, slide”).
More words from Latin, Proto-Indo-European
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian смазвам
- смазвам (smazvam)to make slippery or smooth
Catalan lubricar, lubrificar
- lubricarto make slippery or smooth
- lubrificarto make slippery or smooth
Chinese Mandarin 潤滑 /润滑
- 潤滑 /润滑 (rùnhuá)to make slippery or smooth
Czech mazat
- mazatto make slippery or smooth
Dutch smeren
- smerento make slippery or smooth
Esperanto lubriki
- lubrikito make slippery or smooth
Estonian määrima
- määrimato make slippery or smooth
Finnish voidella
- voidellato make slippery or smooth
French lubrifier
- lubrifierto make slippery or smooth
German schmieren
- schmierento make slippery or smooth
Greek λιπαίνω
- λιπαίνω (lipaíno)to make slippery or smooth
Hungarian ken, síkosít
- kento make slippery or smooth
- síkosítto make slippery or smooth
- olajozto make slippery or smooth
- beolajozto make slippery or smooth
- zsírozto make slippery or smooth
- bezsírozto make slippery or smooth
- megolajozto make slippery or smooth
Italian lubrificare
- lubrificareto make slippery or smooth
Japanese 注油する
- 注油する (chūyu-suru)to make slippery or smooth
Latin lūbricō
- lūbricōto make slippery or smooth
Māori whakamaene
- whakamaeneto make slippery or smooth
Portuguese lubrificar
- lubrificarto make slippery or smooth
Romanian lubrifia
- lubrifiato make slippery or smooth
Russian сма́зывать, сма́зать
- сма́зывать (smázyvatʹ)to make slippery or smooth
- сма́зать (smázatʹ)to make slippery or smooth
Scottish Gaelic lìomh
- lìomhto make slippery or smooth
Spanish lubricar, lubrificar
- lubricarto make slippery or smooth
- lubrificarto make slippery or smooth
Swedish smörja
- smörjato make slippery or smooth
Tagalog danlugan
- danluganto make slippery or smooth
Turkish yağlamak
- yağlamakto make slippery or smooth
Cite this entry
lubricate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lubricate
“lubricate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lubricate. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “lubricate,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lubricate.
Source: lubricate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.