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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

greaser en · NOUN

Pronunciation

Etymology

From grease + -er. Applied to mechanics because they frequently become greasy during the course of their work. Applied to toughs because they frequently greased their hair, and, like greaseball, to Italians for the same reason. Applied to Mexicans because, at the time the phrase originated, they commonly worked greasing the axles of carts.

Meanings

  1. Someone or something that greases (applies grease).
    • The pole was greased and men tried to walk out to the end of it and dislodge the crate. The pole was supple, the crate swayed as each man crept out clinging desperately and finally fell off into the sea. […] People roared with laughter and greasers applied fresh grease for the next person's try. 1942, Emily Carr, “Regatta”, in The Book of Small, Toronto, Ont.: Oxford University Press, →OCLC:
    • ... incidentally, our correspondent tells of a West Indian who applied for a job at Kings Cross as motion greaser - but with no idea of what he would have to grease and why. Invited to find out and return within a month, he did, and nowadays the Kings Cross engines are as efficiently greased as any on B.R. 1961 March, “Talking of trains”, in Trains Illustrated, page 131:
  2. (slang) A mechanic.
  3. (slang) A biker, a tough.
  4. (slang) A rocker or metalhead, especially one who listens to 1950s rock and roll or 1980s thrash metal.
    • By such standards, the Greasers are pretty minor stuff. Basically, they're just the 1970 version of that time-honored English figure, the Leather Boy. During the fifties, he was known as the Teddy Boy; in the early sixties, he became the Rocker; and now, after a couple of earlier attempts at revival, he's back yet again, the Greaser. 1970 March 29, Nik Cohn, “England's New Teen Style Is Violence”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
  5. (slang) A very soft landing.
  6. (US, ethnic, offensive, slur) A Latin American, especially a Mexican.
    • A pair of Greasers were ahead of me, but I could see only their outlines, and they didn't seem to interfere any with the scenery. 1907, Stewart Edward White, chapter 11, in Arizona Nights:
  7. (US, ethnic, offensive, slur) An Italian.
  8. (US, ethnic, offensive, slur) A Greek.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
greasers Number=Plur lexicographic

Deriveds

flange greaser

Relateds

bodgie

Synonyms

greased landing

Translations (10)

fi voitelija (someone or something that greases) · fi rasvari (someone or something that greases) · fi rasvari (slang: mechanic) · fr graisseur (someone or something that greases) · fi monttööri (slang: mechanic) · ro gresor (someone or something that greases) · fi rasvis (slang: rocker or metalhead) · fi rasvaletti (slang: rocker or metalhead) · ca greixador (someone or something that greases) · fi rasvaaja (someone or something that greases)