What is meant by the phrase ‘well-oiled’ as used by Washington Irving to describe Rip Van Winkle? I’ve only ever come across two definitions: 1. talkative and 2. drunk for personal characteristics. The meaning here seems to be more like ‘laid back’. Is this phrase dated? I don’t think I’ve ever come across it in anything other than "Rip Van Winkle’.
‘Rip Van Winkle, however, was one of those happy mortals, of foolish, well-oiled dispositions, who take the world easy, eat white bread or brown, whichever can be got with least thought or trouble, and would rather starve on a penny than work for a pound.’
Oil is a lubricant, so the implication is that he doesn’t experience much friction in life (owing to the fact that he demands little, and accommodates much).
I’ve never heard it used elsewhere, so I tend to think it’s just the novelist’s turn of phrase.
I’ve only heard “well-oiled” in the phrase “a well-oiled machine,” which means something that functions smoothly and efficiently, rarely breaking down or running into any problems. I think Irving is saying that Ichabod’s life is always pleasant and predictable, with no problems cropping up that might cause him any unpleasantness, much as hogarth and HMS_Irruncible suggest.
In Bleak House, the narrator describes Mr. Chadband as “a large yellow man with a fat smile and a general appearance of having a good deal of train oil in his system.”
(possibly foreshadowing Mr. Krook’s spontaneous combustion)