"well-oiled machine" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_text": "The figurative sense is an extension from the literal sense.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "well-oiled machines",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "head": "well-oiled machine"
      },
      "expansion": "well-oiled machine (plural well-oiled machines)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with collocations",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with collocations",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "77 23",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "85 15",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "86 14",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "run like a well-oiled machine",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "text": "Our office runs like a well-oiled machine.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "text": "Our office is a well-oiled machine.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Zane, Succulent: Chocolate Flava II, page 2:",
          "text": "Trevor was the firm's facilities manager and it was his job to make sure that their office ran like a well-oiled machine and that the partners, attorneys, and staff were comfortable.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Jeanine Basinger, The Star Machine, page 13:",
          "text": "A movie studio in the so-called golden era was a well-oiled machine with everything needed to make movies right in place on the studio lot.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2004, Carolyn Orange, 44 Smart Strategies for Avoiding Classroom Mistakes, page 16:",
          "text": "Contrary to this dismal picture is the popular concept of the classroom that runs like a well-oiled machine, smoothly, flawlessly, functioning at full capacity, producing maximum output.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1850, The Knickerbocker; or, New-York monthly magazine, \"Editor's Table\", p. 573",
          "text": "The writer is never enthusiastic and rarely Imaginative. His lines flow with the smoothness of a well-oiled machine."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Something that operates capably through the effective coordination of many parts."
      ],
      "id": "en-well-oiled_machine-en-noun-wExV6nVX",
      "links": [
        [
          "operate",
          "operate"
        ],
        [
          "capably",
          "capable"
        ],
        [
          "effective",
          "effective"
        ],
        [
          "coordination",
          "coordination"
        ],
        [
          "part",
          "part"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, figurative) Something that operates capably through the effective coordination of many parts."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively",
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see well-oiled, machine."
      ],
      "id": "en-well-oiled_machine-en-noun-AtikcAiE",
      "links": [
        [
          "well-oiled",
          "well-oiled#English"
        ],
        [
          "machine",
          "machine#English"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "5 95",
          "word": "oilcan"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "5 95",
          "word": "oiler"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "5 95",
          "word": "well-oiled"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "well-oiled machine"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "The figurative sense is an extension from the literal sense.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "well-oiled machines",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "head": "well-oiled machine"
      },
      "expansion": "well-oiled machine (plural well-oiled machines)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "oilcan"
    },
    {
      "word": "oiler"
    },
    {
      "word": "well-oiled"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with collocations",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "run like a well-oiled machine",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "text": "Our office runs like a well-oiled machine.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "text": "Our office is a well-oiled machine.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2008, Zane, Succulent: Chocolate Flava II, page 2:",
          "text": "Trevor was the firm's facilities manager and it was his job to make sure that their office ran like a well-oiled machine and that the partners, attorneys, and staff were comfortable.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Jeanine Basinger, The Star Machine, page 13:",
          "text": "A movie studio in the so-called golden era was a well-oiled machine with everything needed to make movies right in place on the studio lot.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2004, Carolyn Orange, 44 Smart Strategies for Avoiding Classroom Mistakes, page 16:",
          "text": "Contrary to this dismal picture is the popular concept of the classroom that runs like a well-oiled machine, smoothly, flawlessly, functioning at full capacity, producing maximum output.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1850, The Knickerbocker; or, New-York monthly magazine, \"Editor's Table\", p. 573",
          "text": "The writer is never enthusiastic and rarely Imaginative. His lines flow with the smoothness of a well-oiled machine."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Something that operates capably through the effective coordination of many parts."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "operate",
          "operate"
        ],
        [
          "capably",
          "capable"
        ],
        [
          "effective",
          "effective"
        ],
        [
          "coordination",
          "coordination"
        ],
        [
          "part",
          "part"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, figurative) Something that operates capably through the effective coordination of many parts."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively",
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see well-oiled, machine."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "well-oiled",
          "well-oiled#English"
        ],
        [
          "machine",
          "machine#English"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "well-oiled machine"
}