Grease One's Palms Official

: 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 ." grease one's palms

: 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 secretly give someone money to persuade

: This is an exceptionally old English idiom dating back to the first half of the 1500s. 📝 Common Sentence Examples grease one's palms