Grease: One's Palms

"Files rarely move in that government office unless you of the clerks."

: To secretly give someone money to persuade them to do something for you.

"If you want your luggage to make the plane on time, be sure to ."

: The idiom relies on the metaphor of moving parts in a machine. Just as applying grease to a squeaky wheel or stiff engine part reduces friction and makes it move smoothly, giving money to an official makes a bureaucratic process move faster.

"To expedite the building approval process, the contractor decided to ." 🔄 Synonyms and Variants