grease

From Middle English grece (“grease”), from Anglo-Norman grece, from Old French graisse, from Vulgar Latin *grassia, from Latin crassus (“fat, thick”). Doublet of crass.

Noun

• (General American) enPR: grēs, IPA^(key): /ɡɹis/
• (UK) enPR: grēs, IPA^(key): /ɡɹiːs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːs
• Homophone: Greece

Verb

• (UK) enPR: grēs, IPA^(key): /ɡɹiːs/
• (General American) enPR: grēs, grēz, IPA^(key): /ɡɹis/, /ɡɹiz/
• Rhymes: -iːs (UK, US)
• Rhymes: -iːz (US)

grease (countable and uncountable, plural greases)

1. Animal fat in a melted or soft state.
2. (by extension) Any oily or fatty matter.
3. Shorn but not yet cleansed wool.
4. Inflammation of a horse's heels, also known as scratches or pastern dermatitis.
5. (slang) bribe money.
   • 1982, Stephen King, Survivor Type

     Some of the people I talked to said it could be done—but it would cost big money. More grease than I’d ever dreamed of.

• (animal fat): fat, lard

grease (third-person singular simple present greases, present participle greasing, simple past and past participle greased)

1. (transitive) To put grease or fat on something, especially in order to lubricate.
2. (transitive, informal) To bribe.
   • 1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis; John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Third Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: Printed for Jacob Tonson […], OCLC 80026745:

     the greas'd advocate that grinds the poor

   • 2008, Byron Archibald Dunn, With Lyon in Missouri:

     Then you remember we greased him to the tune of five hundred.

   • 2009, Dan Richardson, GOG - an End Time Mystery:

     His employee status didn't entitle him to one, but Magdy on reception would slip him a key if Sabr greased him with a fifty.

3. (transitive, informal) To cause to go easily; to facilitate.
4. (transitive, slang, aviation) To perform a landing extraordinarily smoothly.

   To my amazement, I greased the landing despite the tricky crosswinds.

5. (transitive, slang) To kill, murder.
6. (obsolete) To cheat or cozen; to overreach.
   • 1616–1619 (first performance)​, John Fletcher, “The Mad Lover”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, OCLC 3083972, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     You have greased him / For chewing love again in haste

7. To affect (a horse) with grease, the disease.

• (put grease or fat on): lard
• (slang for kill or murder): bump off, hit, whack

• Eagers, Saeger, Seager, aegers, agrees, eagers, eagres, geares, searge, ægers