Oil-canning

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

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

Etymology

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.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.