rock oil
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of rock oil
1660–70; translation of Medieval Latin petroleum
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 by fracking the rock, oil flowed from the shale.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 8, 2014
In this phial put, first, glass coarsely powdered; secondly, oil of tartar per deliquum; thirdly, tincture of salt of tartar; and lastly, distilled rock oil.
From Endless Amusement A Collection of Nearly 400 Entertaining Experiments by Unknown
Petroleum, or rock oil, is a dark greenish brown liquid which when refined yields gasolene, naphtha, benzine, kerosene, lubricating oils, and paraffin.
From Checking the Waste A Study in Conservation by Gregory, Mary Huston
The gold mines of California and of Australia are too well known to require mention; but we must not forget the rock oil, concealed for ages in the North American continent.
From The Mines and its Wonders by Kingston, William Henry Giles
Both Townsend and Drake would have died richer men had they never heard of the Pennsylvania rock oil.
From Inventors by Hubert, Philip Gengembre
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.
