My brother is a grease monkey who fixes cars all day.
grease monkey
idiomA mechanic, often with the specific connotation of an automobile mechanic.
Origin
first recorded 20th c. disputed originFirst use appears c. 1910 in a translated work. See cite below. May have originated during the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain, when children were used to grease the large rotating axles which were used to transfer power from one centralized steam engine to all of the machines on the factory floor. These children, covered in grease and crawling in the tight spaces in the ceilings, were equated with monkeys.
When the engine started making a strange noise, I took it to the local grease monkey for a quick inspection.
The seasoned grease monkey wiped his oil-stained hands on a rag, confident that he could restore the vintage engine to its former glory.
- 01
brass monkey
Very cold.
- 02
cheeky monkey
An impudent person, usually a child.
- 03
elbow grease
Effort or hard work, especially physical work involving repeated motion of the forearm, such as scrubbing.
- 04
get one's monkey up
To make someone angry, annoyed or irritated.
- 05
grease payment
A bribe or extorted money, usually relatively small in amount, provided to a low-level government official or business person, in order to expedite a business decision, shipment, or other transaction, especially in a country where such payments are not unusual.
- 06
grease someone's palm
To bribe a person.
- 07
grease the skids
To create conditions likely to produce or hasten favorable future developments.
- 08
grease the wheels
To create conditions likely to produce or hasten favorable future developments.