grease
n. C / Un. a thick, oily substance used to make machine parts move smoothly. You also find it in the kitchen after cooking meat.
n. a thick fatty or oily substance, especially when used as a lubricant for machinery or occurring as a byproduct of cooking. Often refers to animal fats in a culinary context.
The mechanic put some grease on the bicycle chain.
The kitchen walls were covered in a thin layer of grease after years of frying food without proper ventilation.
Heavy industrial machinery requires high-grade grease to prevent friction from damaging the internal gears during prolonged periods of high-speed operation.
From Middle English grece, from Anglo-Norman grece, from Vulgar Latin *grassia, noun derived from Latin crassus (“fat, thick”). Doublet of crass.
Uncountable when referring to the substance generally; countable when referring to specific types or grades of lubricant.
- 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.