Phrase guide

grease payment

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

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.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: US, idiomatic

Topics: business, ethics, human-sciences, law, philosophy, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

See lubrication payment § Etymology.

Across languages

Translations

12 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: بَخْشِيش (baḵšīš) — bribe
  • Dutch: smeergeld — bribe
  • Finnish: voiteluraha — bribe
  • Hungarian: kenőpénz — bribe
  • Indonesian: uang pelicin — bribe
  • Indonesian: uang pelumas — bribe
  • Indonesian: uang semir — bribe
  • Polish: łapówka — bribe
  • Portuguese: propina — bribe
  • Spanish: coima — bribe
  • Tagalog: padulas — bribe
  • Ottoman Turkish: بخشش (bahşiş) — bribe