phrase[ plural ] thick paints with an oil base, used for painting pictures: 油画颜料 Do you paint in oils or watercolours?你画油画还是水彩画？ She's teaching us how to use oils and acrylics. All of these artists used oils. Later, she began to paint in oils. It's a three-quarter portrait in oils of a young man and his dog. He produced a series of abstract paintings in oils. See also