oilpatch

Noun

oilpatch (plural oilpatches)

1. A patch or puddle of oil.
   • Near-synonyms: oil spot, oil slick
   • This minority establishes itself at the most vulnerable zone of the national territory, and then slowly spreads like an oilpatch, propagating itself in concentric ripples through the peasant masses, to the smaller towns, and finally to the capital.2002, Martin Legassick, Armed Struggle and Democracy: The Case of South Africa, page 24

   Synonyms:

   oil spot, oil slick

2. (informal) An oil and gas producing region; (metonymic) the oil and gas industry.
   • Like many men of that era and region, he wandered into the oilpatch and worked as a roustabout for a while.
   • "Texas Oil Patch Songs": [...] Willet [...] sings a dozen of his own songs having to do with oil workers [...]1959 November 16, The Billboard, page 50