Idiom
add oil
Meaning
Synonym of let's go: a cheer of encouragement, support, etc.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“You can do this, add oil!”
“Your exams start next week, so add oil.”
“Add oil, you are almost at the top of the hill.”
“I believe in your talent, so add oil during your piano performance.”
“The team needs to finish this project by tonight, so add oil everyone.”
“I know you are nervous about your job interview tomorrow, but just be yourself and add oil.”
“If we want to win the game in the second half, we really need to add oil.”
“Learning a new language is a long journey, but if you keep practicing every day and add oil, you will eventually become fluent.”
“As the marathon runners approached the final mile, the crowd shouted loudly to add oil and keep them moving forward.”
Examples
simple
“You can do this, add oil!”
“Your exams start next week, so add oil.”
“Add oil, you are almost at the top of the hill.”
“I believe in your talent, so add oil during your piano performance.”
contextual
“The team needs to finish this project by tonight, so add oil everyone.”
“I know you are nervous about your job interview tomorrow, but just be yourself and add oil.”
“If we want to win the game in the second half, we really need to add oil.”
“Learning a new language is a long journey, but if you keep practicing every day and add oil, you will eventually become fluent.”
complex
“As the marathon runners approached the final mile, the crowd shouted loudly to add oil and keep them moving forward.”
Origin
A calque of the Chinese 加油 (jiāyóu), the expression is associated with Hong Kong contexts via the Cantonese pronunciation gaa1 jau4-2. The term is sometimes credited to shouts of support recorded during the Macau Grand Prix. It functions as a linguistic parallel to the English cooking with gas or fuel up, though it retains the specific phrasing of the original Chinese metaphor.
Key words
Related idioms
- Updated