A small gift can help grease the wheels of a difficult negotiation.
grease the wheels
idiomTo create conditions likely to produce or hasten favorable future developments.
Origin
disputed originBy a metaphor in which facilitating human socioeconomic interaction, or any other process or system, is portrayed as lubricating machinery; in this regard, compare also lubrication payment and social lubricant.
The manager offered extra bonuses to the team to grease the wheels before the big project launch.
By offering generous concessions to the local authorities, the developers sought to grease the wheels for the approval of their ambitious urban renewal project.
- 01
elbow grease
Effort or hard work, especially physical work involving repeated motion of the forearm, such as scrubbing.
- 02
grease monkey
A mechanic, often with the specific connotation of an automobile mechanic.
- 03
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.
- 04
grease someone's palm
To bribe a person.
- 05
grease the skids
To create conditions likely to produce or hasten favorable future developments.
- 06
hell on wheels
A situation that is tough, aggressive, lawless, and wild.
- 07
set of wheels
A car.
- 08
set the wheels in motion
to initiate a chain of events necessary to help one achieve a goal (more quickly)