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.
The industry is testing technologies to evaporate the liquid faster and strip it of salt so it can be reused outside the oil patch.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 26, 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
The oil patch has also gone through repeated boom-and-bust cycles in the past half-century, BCA adds.
From Barron's • Nov. 14, 2025
Kern County, home to the state’s largest oil patch, has long been friendly to energy companies.
From Los Angeles Times • May 31, 2024
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.
