Word.ws English Dictionary

oil-canning

oil-canning noun: a moderate deformation or buckling of sheet material, particularly common with flat sheet metal surfaces.

Noun

oil-canning (uncountable)

  1. A moderate deformation or buckling of sheet material, particularly common with flat sheet metal surfaces.
  2. The movement of a perceived flat surface due to the application of an external force.

Origin of oil-canning

In reference to the technique used to operate an oil can, holding it between the index and middle fingers while applying pressure to the bottom to pump out oil.

Questions about oil-canning

What does oil-canning mean?
Oil-canning means a moderate deformation or buckling of sheet material, particularly common with flat sheet metal surfaces.
What part of speech is oil-canning?
Oil-canning is a noun.

Words near oil-canning in the dictionary

  1. oil up
  2. oil well
  3. oil wells
  4. oil-based
  5. oil-burning
  6. oil-canning
  7. oil-digger
  8. oil-down
  9. oil-downs
  10. oil-fired
  11. oil-lit

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: oil-canning (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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