oilspot

plural oilspots

1. alternativeAlternative form of oil spot.

   The introduction of a high metallic oxide may produce lustrous specks known as an oilspot glaze. This 14 inch high bottle, fired to cone 10 in an electric kiln, has oilspots on a chartreuse glaze.

   1968, Thomas G. Supensky, Ceramic Art in the School Program, Worcester, Mass.: Davis Publications, →LCCN, page 84

   5 more examples

   A project starts in one district, or a group of contiguous districts or communes, and expands into contiguous locales, forming either an ever-expanding circle (oilspot) or a continuous path (vector). […] There are many advantages to concentrating all rural development activities in one oilspot or vector.

   1970, Earl M. Kulp, Rural Development Planning: Systems Analysis and Working Method (Praeger Special Studies in International Economics and Development), Praeger Publishers, →LCCN, page 76

   "[…] In the language of the French experts, they refer to Neak Luong as the principal 'oilspot⁠' from which their troops could spread rapidly when needed." This shows why Nixon is opposed to even the most minimal congressional restriction on U.S. operations in Cambodia. The "oilspot" technique allows temporary "withdrawals," as long as firm bases or enclaves remain. But to be successful, the "oilspots" have to spread until they cover the whole country.

   1970 June 29, Intercontinental Press, volume 8, number 25, page 634

   Some 34 ‘oilspots’ or key target areas have been identified for special attention and a further 200 townships have been earmarked for upgrading projects. […] Mamelodi, 17 kilometres east of Pretoria, is one of the 34 townships designated as ‘oilspots’ by officials of the Joint Management Centres (JMCs).

   1989, Jacklyn Cock, Laurie Nathan, editors, War and Society: The Militarisation of South Africa, Cape Town; Johannesburg: David Philip, →ISBN, part II (Militarisation and political power), pages 146 (Mark Swilling; Mark Phillips, “State power in the 1980s: from ‘total strategy’ to ‘counter-revolutionary warfare’”) and 159 (Andrew Boraine, “The militarisation of urban controls: the security management system in Mamelodi, 1986–1988)

   McCuen recommended what he called an “oilspot” strategy, which meant concentrating the operation on specific spots, gaining control of these and then using them as strategic bases from which to operate outwards and pacify the surrounding region. Adopting both his idea and his term, the security managers targetted thirty-four “oilspots”—including the Vaal Triangle, Atteridgeville, the Uitenhage and Port Elizabeth townships, and Crossroads.

   1990, Allister Sparks, The Mind of South Africa, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 357

   The South Africans have added a new term of their own to the WHAM lexicon: “oilspots.” An oilspot is a strategically chosen township where the uprisings have been suppressed and improvements begun. As this upgrading makes people more content, the theory goes, the calm from this little island will spread outward, like oil over water. Eventually, these expanding pools of calm from many oilspots will merge, and soothe the stormy waters of the whole country.

   1991, Adam Hochschild, The Mirror at Midnight: A Journey to the Heart of South Africa, Fontana, →ISBN, page 200