grease

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English grece, later grese and gres,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman grece, also gresse,^[4][5][6][7] from Old French craisse, later graisse,^[7][8][2] from Vulgar Latin *crassia (“(melted) animal fat”),^{[9][7][2][10]} from Latin crassus (“thick, solid, fat”).^[9][7][8] Etymonline calls the Latin adjective of unknown origin.^[9] The Anglo-Norman noun is recorded from the early 12th century, for fat, grease and ointment, and also in the hunting phrase for the season when game is fat.^[11] The same Romance noun gave graixa and grascia,^[8][10] while grasa and grassa continue the feminine of the adjective.^[8][9] Latin crassus is also the source of crass and of gras (“fat”), and craisse gave craisset (“oil lamp”), the source of cresset.^[7] The verb is from the noun.^[8][9][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The melted or rendered fat of animals: c. 1290, in the South English Legendary.^[8] Etymonline dates the noun to about 1300, as the oily fat of land animals,^[9] and Barnhart finds grece about 1300 and gres before 1325.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In medieval English the word also meant the fat part of an animal's body, and fatness (before 1340 to 1672);^[8][12] in hunting, a hart or boar was in grease when it was fat and fit to kill.^[8][11] The verb first appears about 1380, for salving sheep with tallow and tar,^[8] and then for smearing with grease (about 1450) and lubricating (1462);^[8] Etymonline and Barnhart date it to the mid-14th century.^[9][2] To grease the wheels, to make things run smoothly, is from about 1450,^[8][9] and the idea of oiling a machine gave the sense "to bribe":^[12][9] Skelton wrote of officials who grease my hande with gold in 1515–16,^[13] the OED dates the sense to 1528,^[8] and Etymonline dates grease someone's palm to the 1580s.^[9] From the 17th century grease was a disease of horses' heels (1674),^[8] and later the oil in raw wool (1835), money paid as a bribe (1823) and flattery (1877), all 19th-century senses.^[8] In Yorkshire it could mean butter, especially rancid butter (1788),^[8] and in Cumberland a grease-horn was a carter's horn for grease and also a flatterer.^[14] American English had greased lightning by 1832,^[9] and 20th-century American slang used the verb for eating (1944) and, originally in military slang, for killing (1968).^[13]

Timeline

• c. 1290 – melted or rendered animal fat.^[8]
• c. 1330 – in hunting, the fat of game.^[8] In grease:, fat and fit to kill.^[8]
• c. 1380 – verb, to salve sheep with tallow and tar.^[8]
• c. 1450 – verb, to smear with grease.^[8] Grease the wheels, to make things run smoothly.^[8]
• 1462 – verb, to lubricate.^[8]
• 1515–16 – grease my hand, to bribe.^[13]
• 1674 – a disease of horses' heels.^[8]
• 1823 – money given as a bribe.^[8]
• 1832 – greased lightning.^[9]
• 1835 – the oily matter in raw wool.^[8]
• 1880 – grease paint.^[9]
• 1918 – grease monkey, a mechanic.^[9]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Animal fat in a soft or melted state.
2. A thick oily substance, especially one used as a lubricant for machinery.
3. Wool after shearing, before it has been cleaned of its natural oil.
4. (veterinary) An inflammation of the skin of a horse's fetlocks, with an oily discharge.

Verb

1. To smear, coat or lubricate with grease: Grease the tin before pouring in the batter.
2. To make something go more easily: Her contacts greased the way to the deal.
3. grease someone's palm or grease someone's hand: to bribe someone.

Word family

• greaseless
• greaseproof
• greaselessness
• degrease
• greaseball
• greasepaint
• greasewood
• greasy

Related words

• crass
• cresset
• greaser
• elbow grease

Usage notes

Collins gives both /ɡriːs/ and /ɡriːz/ for the noun and the verb, with /ɡriːz/ first for the verb;^[15] Merriam-Webster notes regional differences in the /s/ and /z/ pronunciations.^[16]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
12. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
14. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
15. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
16. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster