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Showing results for grease the wheels. Search instead for grease-oil-the-wheels.
Synonyms

grease the wheels

Idioms  

  1. Also, oil the wheels. Make things run smoothly, as in You can count on Ben to grease the wheels so we'll be waited on promptly. This metaphoric expression transfers literal lubrication to figurative. [Mid-1600s]

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

London has stables of lawyers and accountants experienced at disguising sources of wealth and who help clients obtain visas that grease the wheels of business.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 30, 2026

Yet as long as unemployment remains low, Americans should have enough confidence to keep spending to grease the wheels of the economy.

From MarketWatch • Nov. 15, 2025

But as Douthat knows, some pretense is always necessary to grease the wheels of personal relations, especially of diplomacy.

From Salon • Mar. 5, 2025

That could help Capital One and Discover grease the wheels with regulators and gain approval for the deal because antitrust regulators have long had those payment giants in their crosshairs.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 21, 2024

I think,” he concluded, “that about five hundred thousand dollars will grease the wheels all ’round.

From Carmen Ariza by Stocking, Charles Francis

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.