well-oiled

English

The figurative sense of "smoothrunning" is an extension from the literal sense involving lubrication.

well-oiled (comparative more well-oiled, superlative most well-oiled)

(idiomatic) Well-run; smoothrunning; efficiently run.
Synonyms: businesslike, efficient; see also Thesaurus:efficient
- 2020 August 27, Kevin Roose, “What if Facebook Is the Real ‘Silent Majority’?”, in New York Times‎^[1]:
  Pro-Trump political influencers have spent years building a well-oiled media machine that swarms around every major news story, creating a torrent of viral commentary that reliably drowns out both the mainstream media and the liberal opposition.
(idiomatic) Drunk.
Synonyms: lubricated, lubed, sauced; see also Thesaurus:drunk
- 2024 April 9, “In-flight canoodling: is it ever acceptable to spoon at 40,000ft?”, in The Guardian‎^[2], →ISSN:
  Well, in 2000, a pair of well-oiled strangers hit the news and were arrested – after groping each other and undressing on a transatlantic flight – but it’s usually less extreme, as with the couple who were intensely snogging in 2020.
- 2024 November 13, Paul Bigland, “Much to admire... but pockets of neglect”, in RAIL, number 1022, page 48:
  Swinging onto the Treherbert branch under the new OLE, the train's onboard Passenger Information Screens announce we have entered a 'no alcohol' zone. That doesn't seem to help, as some of the passengers who joined us earlier seem 'well oiled' already.
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see well,‎ oiled.

(drunk): Tony Thorne (2014) “well-oiled”, in Dictionary of Contemporary Slang, 4th edition, London, […]: Bloomsbury
“well-oiled adj.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present