grease the wheels
To create conditions likely to produce or hasten favorable future developments.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“A small gift can help grease the wheels of a difficult negotiation.”
“You should send a thank-you note to grease the wheels for your next request.”
“The manager offered extra bonuses to the team to grease the wheels before the big project launch.”
“The diplomat organized a private dinner for both leaders to grease the wheels before the official peace talks began the next morning.”
“Hiring a local consultant helped grease the wheels when the company tried to open its first office in a foreign country.”
“By offering generous concessions to the local authorities, the developers sought to grease the wheels for the approval of their ambitious urban renewal project.”
From the mid-19th century, a metaphor portraying human socioeconomic interaction as the movement of machinery. The idiom posits that a process or system may be facilitated by lubricating its components, much as one might apply grease to a literal wheel to ensure its rotation. The concept of the lubrication payment and the social lubricant operate on the same mechanical premise.
- 01
big wheel
A person with a great deal of power or influence, especially a high-ranking person in an organization.
- 02
break the wheel
To end a pattern of oppression, inequality, injustice, or abuse.
- 03
elbow grease
Effort or hard work, especially physical work involving repeated motion of the forearm, such as scrubbing.
- 04
fifth wheel
Anything superfluous or unnecessary.
- 05
grease monkey
A mechanic, often with the specific connotation of an automobile mechanic.
- 06
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.
- 07
grease someone's palm
To bribe a person.
- 08
grease the skids
To create conditions likely to produce or hasten favorable future developments.
Last updated August 10, 2026