Word.ws English Dictionary

pour oil on troubled waters

pour oil on troubled waters verb: to calm, appease or quiet a person or situation.

Verb

pour oil on troubled waters (third-person singular simple present pours oil on troubled waters, present participle pouring oil on troubled waters, simple past and past participle poured oil on troubled waters)

  1. (idiomatic) To calm, appease or quiet a person or situation.
    • Tom Street deemed it his duty to pour oil upon the troubled waters, being, as it were, officially responsible for the welfare of the chowder-plates and tobacco-pipes which were hired for the occasion.1885, Beverley Ellison Warner, a Troubled Waters: A Problem of To-day, page 40
    • I remember him taking umbrage when he thought I was doubting his grandmother's skills so I am quick to pour oil on troubled waters.2013, Jane Cable, The Cheesemaker's House, page 95

pour oil on troubled waters meaning in Bengali

pour oil on troubled waters in Bengali

কোনো ব্যক্তি, পরিস্থিতি শান্ত করা

Synonyms of pour oil on troubled waters

Antonyms

Forms of pour oil on troubled waters

third-person singular presentpours oil on troubled waters
present participlepouring oil on troubled waters
past participlepoured oil on troubled waters
pastpoured oil on troubled waters

Origin of pour oil on troubled waters

From the ancient practice of pouring oil on the seawaves in order to calm them.

Questions about pour oil on troubled waters

What does pour oil on troubled waters mean?
Pour oil on troubled waters means to calm, appease or quiet a person or situation.
What is pour oil on troubled waters in Bengali?
Pour oil on troubled waters in Bengali is কোনো ব্যক্তি, পরিস্থিতি শান্ত করা. See Pour oil on troubled waters meaning in Bengali.
What part of speech is pour oil on troubled waters?
Pour oil on troubled waters is a verb.
What is the past tense of pour oil on troubled waters?
The past tense of pour oil on troubled waters is poured oil on troubled waters.

Words near pour oil on troubled waters in the dictionary

  1. pour honey in one's ear
  2. pour honey into one's ear
  3. pour honey on
  4. pour in
  5. pour into
  6. pour oil on troubled waters
  7. pour one out
  8. pour one's heart out
  9. pour one's soul out
  10. pour out
  11. pour out one's heart

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pour oil on troubled waters (page history and authors); pour oil on troubled waters (Bengali Wiktionary) (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-pour oil on troubled waters.ogg.

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