1640s, "act of lubricating," noun of action from lubricate (v.). Earlier was lubrifaction (1540s). Lubrification is from 1690s.
Entries linking to lubrication
lubricate v.
1620s, "make slippery or smooth" (especially by the application of an oil), from Latin lubricatus, past participle of lubricare "to make slippery or smooth," from lubricus "slippery; easily moved, sliding, gliding;" figuratively "uncertain, hazardous, dangerous; seductive," from suffixed form of PIE root *sleubh- "to slip, slide." Related: Lubricated; lubricating. Earlier verb was lubrify (early 15c.), from Medieval Latin lubrificare.
lube
1934, colloquial shortening of lubrication (n.); as a verb, short for lubricate, by 1961.
lubritorium n.
"place where automobiles are greased," 1928; from lubrication + ending from auditorium. The -torium in the word was an overworked trade suffix in the late 1920s; Mencken lists also infantorium, shavatorium, restatorium, hatatorium, and odditorium ("a slide-show").