grease someone's palm

Related to word: grease

Idiom

Definition

  1. To secretly give someone money, typically to persuade them to do something for you, often something dishonest or unethical.

    • It is said that they had to grease a few palms to ensure the contract was signed smoothly.

    • The company manager decided to grease the inspector's palm so that he would overlook their violations.

    • The journalist exposed many scandals of business owners greasing the palms of local politicians to get building permits.