different between fatty vs oily

English

Etymology 1

From fat +? -y. Cognate with Dutch vettig (“fatty, greasy”), German fettig (“fatty”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?fæt.i/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?fæ?.i/
• Rhymes: -æti

Adjective

fatty (comparative fattier, superlative fattiest)

1. Containing, composed of, or consisting of fat.
   • 1896, H.G. Wells, The Island of Doctor Moreau, Chapter 14.

     Then in the case of excisions you have all kinds of secondary changes, pigmentary disturbances, modifications of the passions, alterations in the secretion of fatty tissue.
2. Like fat; greasy.
   • 1849, Hippocrates (Translated by Francis Bacon), Of the Epidemics, Book II, Section 1.

     On the sixth, stools black, fatty, viscid, fetid; slept, more collected.

   • 1861, Charles Dickens, Great Expectations, Chapter 32

     […] which had a greasy and fatty surface like cold broth

3. (slang) Literally or figuratively large.
   • 2007, getting rid of weed smell tips

     Be careful of the taxi drivers out there though, I've heard they sell you drugs, drop you off at your hotel and then dob you in to the Thai Police to get a fatty reward!

   • 2007, A. Bryant, Disappointment to Say the Least

     Instead of going my normal route (ordering the book through the store, checking it out in person, and then ordering it online so I could get a fatty discount) I impulsively bought the book.

   • 2007, Rimma [1]

     I'm trying to get a fatty project done in a couple of hours right now.

Derived terms

• fatty acid

Translations

Etymology 2

From fat +? -y (“colloquialising suffix”).

Alternative forms

• fattie

Noun

fatty (plural fatties)

1. (derogatory, slang) An obese person.

   It's hardly surprising, when it has to support that enormous gut! Lose some weight, fatty!

2. (slang) A large marijuana cigar; a blunt.
   • 2004, Anthony Kiedis, Larry Sloman, Scar Tissue

     We went to Plaster Creek, smoked a fattie, and emerged doing somersaults and cartwheels and laughing.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:fat person
• See also Thesaurus:marijuana cigarette

Translations

English

Alternative forms

• oyly (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English oylei, equivalent to oil +? -y. Compare German ölig (“oily”), Swedish oljig (“oily”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???li/
• Rhymes: -??li

Adjective

oily (comparative oilier, superlative oiliest)

1. Relating to or resembling oil.
   • 1895, H. G. Wells, The Time Machine, Chapter 11,^[1]

     There were no breakers and no waves, for not a breath of wind was stirring. Only a slight oily swell rose and fell like a gentle breathing, and showed that the eternal sea was still moving and living.

2. Covered with or containing oil.
   • 1853, Herman Melville, “Bartleby, the Scrivener,”^[2]

     His clothes were apt to look oily and smell of eating-houses.

   • 1917, Robert Hichens, In the Wilderness, Chapter ,^[3]

     […] overdressed young men of enigmatic appearance, with oily thick hair, shifty eyes, and hands covered with cheap rings, swaggered about smoking cigarettes and talking in loud, ostentatious voices.

3. (figuratively) Excessively friendly or polite but insincere.
   • c. 1605, William Shakespeare, King Lear, Act I, Scene 1,^[4]

     […] for I want that glib and oily art

     To speak and purpose not, since what I well intend,

     I’ll do’t before I speak […]

   • 1848, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, Chapter 22,^[5]

     Mr Carker the Manager, sly of manner, sharp of tooth, soft of foot, watchful of eye, oily of tongue, cruel of heart, nice of habit, sat with a dainty steadfastness and patience at his work, as if he were waiting at a mouse’s hole.

   • 1914, Algernon Blackwood, “The Damned,”^[6]

     ‘He had an inflexible will beneath all that oily kindness which passed for spiritual […] ’

Derived terms

• oiliness
• smell of an oily rag

Translations

Noun

oily (plural oilies)

1. A marble with an oily lustre.
   • 1998, Joanna Cole, Stephanie Calmenson, Michael Street, Marbles: 101 ways to play

     Lustered (also called lusters, rainbows, oilies, and pearls).

   • 2001, Paul Webley, The economic psychology of everyday life (page 39)

     But marbles are not only used to play games: they are also traded. In this market, the value of the different kinds of marbles (oilies, emperors, etc.) is determined by local supply and demand and not by the price of the marbles […]

2. (in the plural, informal) Oilskins. (waterproof garment)