grease

From Middle English grece (“grease”), from Anglo-Norman grece, from Old French graisse, from Vulgar Latin *grassia, from Latin crassus (“fat, thick”).

Noun

• (General American) enPR: grēs, IPA^(key): /ɡɹis/
• (UK) enPR: grēs, IPA^(key): /ɡɹiːs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːs
• Homophone: Greece

Verb

• (UK) enPR: grēs, IPA^(key): /ɡɹiːs/
• (General American) enPR: grēs, grēz, IPA^(key): /ɡɹis/, /ɡɹiz/
• Rhymes: -iːs (UK, US)
• Rhymes: -iːz (US)

grease (countable and uncountable, plural greases)

1. Animal fat in a melted or soft state
2. (extension) Any oily or fatty matter.
3. Shorn but not yet cleansed wool
4. Inflammation of a horse's heels, also known as scratches or pastern dermatitis.

• (animal fat): fat, lard

grease (third-person singular simple present greases, present participle greasing, simple past and past participle greased)

1. (transitive) To put grease or fat on something, especially in order to lubricate.
2. (transitive, informal) To bribe.
   • Dryden

     the greased advocate that grinds the poor

   • 2008, Byron Archibald Dunn, With Lyon in Missouri:

     Then you remember we greased him to the tune of five hundred.

   • 2009, Dan Richardson, GOG - an End Time Mystery:

     His employee status didn't entitle him to one, but Magdy on reception would slip him a key if Sabr greased him with a fifty.

3. (transitive, informal) To cause to go easily; to facilitate.
4. (transitive, slang, aviation) To perform a landing extraordinarily smoothly.

   To my amazement, I greased the landing despite the tricky crosswinds.

5. (transitive, slang) To kill, murder.
6. (obsolete) To cheat or cozen; to overreach.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Beaumont and Fletcher to this entry?)

7. To affect (a horse) with grease, the disease.

• (put grease or fat on): lard
• (slang for kill or murder): bump off, hit, whack

• Eagers, Saeger, Seager, aegers, agrees, eagers, eagres, geares, searge, ægers