The expensive pump at the filling station — the fuel made for engines that squeeze hard and run fast, burning hot and steady under pressure instead of . Everything else the word does is that can of fuel poured into something new: into a film, into an evening, into a person. Whatever it is poured into runs hotter and faster than usual.
可以想成加油站裡比較貴的那一支油槍：那種油是給壓縮得很緊、轉得很快的引擎用的，被壓也不會亂燒，燒起來又猛又穩。這個字後來的每一種用法，都像是把那罐油倒進別的東西裡——倒進一部電影、倒進一個晚上、倒進一個人。被倒進去的東西，就會轉得比平常更快、更燙。
From the word’s history
From high + octane; first recorded around 1931. The word began as a fuel grade and kept that grade as its picture.
由 high（高）加 octane（辛烷值）組成，大約一九三一年開始出現。它一開始就是在講汽油的等級，後來的比喻用法都還背著那個「高級燃料」的畫面。
Wiktionary, "high-octane"
登入就可以看每一支怎麼連回核心畫面。