grease

UK/ɡɹiːs/US/ɡɹis/

nounB13 meanings Common in everyday speech and writing · #3,072 of 15,258leans spoken

Other forms: greased, greases, greasing

Grease is thick, soft fat — the kind that pools in the pan after bacon and turns cloudy as it cools. It is also the dark, oily stuff smeared on a bicycle chain, the sort that gets under your fingernails and stays there.

So the word covers two families: fat from cooking, and lubricant for machines. As a verb you grease a tin before the cake mixture goes in, and you grease a bearing so it stops squealing. Greasy is the adjective and it is rarely a compliment — greasy hair, a greasy plate, a greasy smile. In the kitchen grease is what you want rid of; in a workshop it is what you want more of. Elbow grease means hard scrubbing, and there is no grease in it at all.

Definitions of grease

1noungreaseThick soft fat, especially the sort left in a pan after cooking meat.B1
“He wiped the grease from the pan with a sheet of kitchen paper.”
- Said"Don't pour the grease down the sink; it'll block the drain again."
- WrittenA film of grease covered the wall behind the cooker, and the paint had gone yellow under it.
- UsedWipe the grease out of the pan with kitchen paper before washing it.
- ContrastGrease, not oil. Oil is liquid and clean; grease is what oil becomes once it has cooked and cooled. oil →
- Not thisButter in the dish is not grease. Grease is the fat left over, thick and unwanted.
- Exchange"Is that grease on my shirt?""Bacon. Soak it now."
- SimplyThere is grease on the plate. Wash it with hot water.
Patterncooking / bacon grease · a layer / film of grease · wipe up / cut through grease · greasy
synonyms: fat, dripping, lard
2nounlubricantA thick oily substance put on moving parts so they run smoothly.B1
“The mechanic packed the wheel bearing with fresh grease.”
synonyms: lubricant
3verbputTo put grease or fat on something.B2
“Grease the tin well or the cake will stick.”

Remember it

grEASE → the wheel turns EASily

Put grease on a stiff wheel and it turns easily again; the same thick fat sits shining in the pan after the bacon.

Phrases it lives in

elbow grease — hard physical effort, especially scrubbing
grease someone's palm — bribe them quietly, and in small sums

Also practised as

verbTo smear thick oil onto parts that rub.

Where it comes from

Latin crassus meant fat and thick. Vulgar Latin built crassia from it as a word for the fat itself, and that reached English through Anglo-Norman craisse as Middle English grece. The same Latin adjective came in a second time, almost untouched, as crass — so a crass remark and a greasy pan are thickness described twice.

Middle English
grece
English, today
grease

From Middle English grece. From Middle English grece, from Anglo-Norman craisse, from Vulgar Latin crassia, noun derived from Latin crassus (“fat, thick”). a doublet of crass.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Definitions of grease

1noungreaseThick soft fat, especially the sort left in a pan after cooking meat.B1

“He wiped the grease from the pan with a sheet of kitchen paper.”

Said"Don't pour the grease down the sink; it'll block the drain again."
WrittenA film of grease covered the wall behind the cooker, and the paint had gone yellow under it.
UsedWipe the grease out of the pan with kitchen paper before washing it.
ContrastGrease, not oil. Oil is liquid and clean; grease is what oil becomes once it has cooked and cooled. oil →
Not thisButter in the dish is not grease. Grease is the fat left over, thick and unwanted.
Exchange"Is that grease on my shirt?""Bacon. Soak it now."
SimplyThere is grease on the plate. Wash it with hot water.

Patterncooking / bacon grease · a layer / film of grease · wipe up / cut through grease · greasy

synonyms: fat, dripping, lard

2nounlubricantA thick oily substance put on moving parts so they run smoothly.B1

“The mechanic packed the wheel bearing with fresh grease.”

synonyms: lubricant

3verbputTo put grease or fat on something.B2

“Grease the tin well or the cake will stick.”