grease

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a thick oily or fatty substance, especially one used to lubricate machinery

   Apply a thin layer of grease to the bicycle bearings.

2. 2
   verb

   to coat or lubricate something with grease or another fatty substance

   Grease the baking tin before adding the batter.

3. 3
   verb

   informal: to make a process proceed more easily, sometimes by bribery

   A discreet payment was used to grease the wheels of the permit process.

From Middle English grece, borrowed from Anglo-Norman grece, 'fat,' ultimately from a Vulgar Latin noun based on Latin crassus, 'thick or fat.' It is therefore a doublet of crass. The figurative verb treats influence or payment as lubricant that makes a process move smoothly.

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