From Latin flÅ«ctuÄns, flÅ«ctuant- , present participle of flÅ«ctuÄre, to fluctuate; see fluctuate. adjective. 1  Subject to change or variation: variable: fluctuant oil prices. 2  Medicine Capable of being moved or compressed.3  Used of an abnormal mass such as a tumor or abscess. 4  Moving in waves.djective. 1  Subject to change or variation: variable: fluctuant oil prices. 2  Medicine Capable of being moved or compressed. 3  Moving in waves.
Like Gulf Oil, Texaco was founded in 1901 after a major oil strike at Spindletop near Beaumont, Texas. The company was officially incorporated as The Texas Company in 1902 and the word Texaco was first used as a brand (for asphalt, not gasoline) in 1903.
It is named for the 19th century adventurer and defender of the Alamo, James Bowie. (There is also a Bowie County, which includes Texarkana in northeastern Texas.) The city began to expand with the arrival of the Fort Worth and Denver Railway in 1882. In 1884, four men robbed the First National Bank of Bowie and allegedly left with over $10,000 in gold coins.