oil patch
Americannoun
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an area in which oil is produced.
-
the petroleum industry.
Etymology
Origin of oil patch
First recorded in 1960–65
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But there are winners beyond the oil patch.
From Barron's ● Mar. 30, 2026
The agreement sets conditions under which Ottawa could back a new oil-carrying pipeline connecting Alberta’s oil patch to the Pacific Coast.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 29, 2026
As it happens, Blue Owl’s data-center project in Abilene is on the edge of the West Texas oil patch that was the epicenter of the fracking boom.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 17, 2025
As Canada looks to untangle itself economically from the US, the country's landlocked oil patch is eyeing new customers in Asia through a pipeline to the Pacific.
From BBC ● Nov. 16, 2025
Some teachers blamed the erosion on the effects of the economic downturn in the oil patch, which had dealt Odessa a crippling blow.
From "Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream" by H.G. Bissinger
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
