Meaning of "snake oil" in the English dictionary

PRONUNCIATION OF SNAKE OIL

snake oil  [sneɪk ɔɪl]

GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF SNAKE OIL

Snake oil is a noun.

A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

WHAT DOES SNAKE OIL MEAN IN ENGLISH?

Snake oil

Snake oil is an expression that originally referred to fraudulent health products or unproven medicine but has come to refer to any product with questionable or unverifiable quality or benefit. By extension, a snake oil salesman is someone who knowingly sells fraudulent goods or who is himself or herself a fraud, quack, charlatan, and the like. Two main hypotheses for the origin of the term are as follows: The more common theory is that the name originated in the Western regions of the United States and is derived from a topical preparation made from the Chinese Water Snake used by Chinese laborers to treat joint pain. The preparation was promoted in North America by travelling salesmen who often used accomplices in the audience to proclaim the benefits of the preparation. One source, Dr. William S. Haubrich in his book Medical Meanings claims that the name came from the Eastern United States. The Native Americans of New York and Pennsylvania region would rub cuts and scrapes with the petroleum collected from oil seeps that occurred naturally in the area. European settlers observed this habit, and began bottling and selling the substance as a cure-all.

Definition of snake oil in the English dictionary

The definition of snake oil in the dictionary is any pseudo-medical remedy endorsed by a non-qualified person. Other definition of snake oil is talk that is intended to impress others but is insincere or deceiving.

TRANSLATION OF SNAKE OIL

Find out the translation of snake oil to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.

The translations of snake oil from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «snake oil» in English.

• Translator English - Chinese: 蛇油
• Translator English - Spanish: aceite de serpiente
• English: snake oil
• Translator English - Hindi: साँप का तेल
• Translator English - Arabic: ثعبان النفط
• Translator English - Russian: змеиное масло
• Translator English - Portuguese: óleo de cobra
• Translator English - Bengali: সাপের তেল
• Translator English - French: l´huile de serpent
• Translator English - Malay: Minyak ular
• Translator English - German: Schlangenöl
• Translator English - Japanese: ヘビ油
• Translator English - Korean: 뱀 오일
• Translator English - Javanese: Lenga ula
• Translator English - Vietnamese: dầu rắn
• Translator English - Tamil: பாம்பு எண்ணெய்
• Translator English - Marathi: सर्प तेल
• Translator English - Turkish: Yılan yağı
• Translator English - Italian: olio di serpente
• Translator English - Polish: olej wąż
• Translator English - Ukrainian: зміїне масло
• Translator English - Romanian: ulei de sarpe
• Translator English - Greek: φίδι πετρελαίου
• Translator English - Afrikaans: slang olie
• Translator English - Swedish: ormolja
• Translator English - Norwegian: snake oil

QUOTES WITH «SNAKE OIL»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word snake oil.

1

Anne Wojcicki

I think there's a point to regulating, because there are snake oil companies.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «SNAKE OIL»

Discover the use of snake oil in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to snake oil and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.

Snake Oil: The Art of Healing and Truth-Telling

The book weaves together the beginnings of the enterprise with individual stories from Becca's own journey as well as 20 women in the community.

Becca Stevens, 2013

Snake Oil Science: The Truth about Complementary and ...

Here is not only an entertaining critique of the strangely zealous world of CAM belief and practice, but it also a first-rate introduction to how to correctly interpret scientific research of any sort.

R. Barker Bausell, 2007

Silicon Snake Oil: Second Thoughts on the Information Highway

Offers a critical look at the hyperbole surrounding the Internet and the future uses of computer networks, and discusses the false assumptions concerning the true benefits of computers

Clifford Stoll, 1996

Snake Oil And Other Preoccupations

The second half of this book features some of the best of Diamond's writing, including a selection of emails to colleagues and friends, articles from "The Times" and the "Jewish Chronicle" and other publications, together with excerpts from ...

John Diamond, 2009

Snake Oil: Life's Calculations, Misdirections, And Manipulations

From fooling your friends to dangerous stage stunts, Jim Rose, snake oil salesman extraordinaire, provides new angles to old tricks.

Jim Rose, 2005

Literacy as snake oil: beyond the quick fix

This revised edition of Literacy as Snake Oil further investigates and critiques the commodification of literacy and education.

Joanne Larson, 2007

Snake Oil, Hustlers and Hambones: The American Medicine Show

"Medical practices, commerce, and advertising are explored in relation to the history of the rise and eventural demise of the medicine show in America."--preface.

Ann Anderson, 2004

Sanctified Snake Oil: The Effect of Junk Science on Public ...

Explores how government acceptance of junk social science can lend it a false appearance of legitimacy.

Susan Kiss Sarnoff, 2001

Caution - Snake Oil!: How Statistical Thinking Can Help Us ...

This book offers a remedy: If we care to separate bogus claims from the real thing, we must adopt the special way of statistical thinking that is routinely employed by the best of those who undertake the scientific studies that alone can ...

Heinz Kohler, 2010

Snake Oil, Superstars and Me

Birth, life, death, the passing of generations, addictions, religion, faith, sex, politics, war, jobs, hurricanes, technology, reality--all of these things touch our lives and are a part of who we are.

Tommy Scott, 2007

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «SNAKE OIL»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term snake oil is used in the context of the following news items.

Is fish oil the new snake oil of the health world?

But as the Washington Postreports, we buy those supplements anyway, and lots of them: Americans spend roughly $1.2 billion each year on fish oil pills and ... «WXIA-TV, Jul 15»

Want to learn burlesque? Workshops available this weekend at the …

NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) – Snake Oil Festival will be this weekend, June 19-21, at the Howlin' Wolf in Warehouse District. Headliners such as Bella Blue will be ... «WGNO, Jun 15»

Eric Schneiderman's snake oil: His attack on herbal supplements is …

But it turns out the one peddling snake oil was Schneiderman himself — who built his entire case on bad science. He owes an apology both to the companies he ... «New York Daily News, Apr 15»

Psychological Association Delivers 'Snake Oil' Sociology In Latest …

If the Windsor Court majority relied on those briefs, it was reliant on snake oil, not science. The APA and the ASA should be the guardians of good science. «Christian Post, Mar 15»

'Advertisers are snake oil salesmen', says Peter Oborne

ITV's Tom Bradby is used to setting The Agenda with his high octane topical TV programme, and his special edition for Advertising Week Europe yesterday lived ... «CampaignLive, Mar 15»

Fish oil or snake oil? Most capsules don't contain what they promise

Every morning, in an effort to stave off old age and dry rot, they down a tablespoon of oily, stinky fish oil. This is done without any obvious signs of distress ... «The Conversation UK, Feb 15»

Fish oil sold in NZ is actually more like snake oil

Although the researchers did not publish the brand names of the fish oil supplements that were analysed, Cutfield said almost half were encapsulated, labelled ... «Stuff.co.nz, Jan 15»

Discovery's 'Eaten Alive' Turned Out To Be Snake Oil Special

I hinted as much in a blog post last week about this show, which Discovery “sold” as if this guy was really going to be consumed whole by this snake -- a giant ... «MediaPost Communications, Dec 14»

Investors gearing into managed schemes must be aware of risks …

Investors are much easier targets for snake oil merchants because of the capital they can offer as collateral. Increasing borrowing costs for investors as currently ... «Sydney Morning Herald, Nov 14»

AMA warns of 'snake oil' salesman

A bleach product being spruiked as a miracle cure for everything from asthma to HIV, cancer and Ebola has been condemned as 'snake oil' by doctors. «Sky News Australia, Nov 14»