oilpatch

plural oilpatches · alternative oil patch · alternative oil-patch

1. A patch or puddle of oil.

   Near-synonyms: oil spot, oil slick

   1 more example

   This minority establishes itself at the most vulnerable zone of the national territory, and then slowly spreads like an oilpatch, propagating itself in concentric ripples through the peasant masses, to the smaller towns, and finally to the capital.

   2002, Martin Legassick, Armed Struggle and Democracy: The Case of South Africa, page 24

   Synonyms: oil spot, oil slick

2. informalAn oil and gas producing region; (metonymic) the oil and gas industry.

   Like many men of that era and region, he wandered into the oilpatch and worked as a roustabout for a while.

   3 more examples

   "Texas Oil Patch Songs": [...] Willet [...] sings a dozen of his own songs having to do with oil workers [...]

   1959 November 16, The Billboard, page 50

   Fracturing the formation in the lingo of the oil patch is to perform a frac job.

   2005, Martin S. Raymond, William L. Leffler, Oil & Gas Production in Nontechnical Language

   "Alberta won't plug oilpatch"

   2008 February 26, Edmonton Sun