English

Noun

well-oiled machine ‎(plural well-oiled machines)

1. Something that operates capably through the effective coordination of many parts.
   • 2008, Zane, Succulent: Chocolate Flava II‎, p. 2:

     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.

   • 2007, Jeanine Basinger, The Star Machine‎, p. 13:

     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.

   • 2004, Carolyn Orange, 44 Smart Strategies for Avoiding Classroom Mistakes‎, p. 16:

     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.

   • 1850, The Knickerbocker; or, New-York monthly magazine, "Editor's Table", p. 573:

     The writer is never enthusiastic and rarely Imaginative. His lines flow with the smoothness of a well-oiled machine.