Oilpatch

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A sector where petroleum extraction occurs along with related economic activities takes place
2. A locality centered on the extraction of oil and the industries that support it is found
3. An area primarily engaged in the production of petroleum and associated business operations

Etymology: "Oilpatch" is a plain compound of "oil" and "patch," with "patch" used in its older sense of a small area or tract of land. The combination is a useful one: a patch of ground that yields petroleum becomes, in the trade's shorthand, a place defined by what comes out of it, and the word then stretched from the physical ground to the whole industry working it. The sense of "patch" as a bounded territory is the key to the meaning. A patch is a distinct, often modest, piece of land set apart from its surroundings, and that is why the word suits a region of oil wells, drilling rigs and the firms that service them. The compound therefore names a district by its economic activity rather than by geography, so a single word can cover a stretch of Texas, Alberta or the North Sea alongside the business dealings carried on there.