Oilers

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A term referring to a group of individuals or teams engaged in the extraction and production of oil resources
2. A colloquial designation for players associated with an oil industry franchise, typically in sports
3. It indicates members of a collective involved in oil drilling and refining processes

Etymology: "Oilers" is the plural of "oiler", which is formed from "oil" plus the agent suffix "-er", so it names a person who oils or works with oil. The word goes back to Middle English "oyler", built the same way from the noun "oil" and the suffix. The sense "oil industry worker" is a later extension of the older meaning. The suffix "-er" simply marks someone who performs an action or is connected with a thing, so an oiler was originally someone who applied oil, whether to machinery or to other surfaces. Once the oil industry grew into a major source of employment, the word came to cover the crews working on oil rigs and in oil fields.