grease palm

grease (one's) palm

To bribe one discreetly, as by slipping money into their palm. A: "How are we going to get a table without a reservation?" B: "Don't worry, I greased the hostess' palm, and she promised us a table in no time." I greased my brother's palm to stop him from telling Mom that I had a party while she was away.
See also: grease, palm
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

grease someone's palm

 and oil someone's palm
Fig. to bribe someone. If you want to get something done around here, you have to grease someone's palm. I'd never oil a police officer's palm. That's illegal.
See also: grease, palm
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

grease someone's palm/fist, to

To bribe someone; also, to give a gratuity. This term has been around since the sixteenth century, and apparently a version of it was known even in Roman times, when Pliny the Younger called it unguentarium, translated as “ointment money” (Epistles, ca. a.d. 98). “Wyth golde and grotes they grese my hande,” wrote John Skelton (Magnyfycence, ca. 1529).
See also: grease, palm
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • grease (one's) palm
  • grease somebody's palm
  • grease someone’s palm
  • grease someone's palm
  • grease (one's) hand
  • oil
  • oil (one's) hand
  • oil (one's) palm
  • palm-greasing
  • grease the palm
References in periodicals archive
Speaking on the occasion, they said that corruption had made foundations of Pakistan hollow and they alleged that the foreign loans were not for the poor but to grease palm of their (Politicians) own pockets while the poor are compelled facing starvation and committing suicides.
Rs 20 billion oil has already been stolen in connivance with bureaucrats, police and officials while Khushal Ghar is tantamount to provide further chance to grease palm of the pilfers they blamed.
They said that there would be no level playing field to honest taxpayers instead it would only result in blockade of their capital in the shape of refunds, increase cost of doing business, shrink export turnover, and compel them to grease palm of tax officers to secure timely refunds.
They could tell us how many times they tried to grease palm of the authorities to block any moves to develop gas and coal sectors?.
Field staff does not get required material often available in store unless they grease palms of store officials.
Unless they don't grease palms of the concerned officials, they don't get the required documents.
Sean had to grease palms and brave bandits before confronting the pair in the squalid village of Chiang Rai, Kim handed back the traumatised child for PS1,000, ownership of a parcel of land in Thailand that Sean has purchased for more than PS6,000, a laptop and agreement by the British Embassy she wouldn't face prosecution in this country.
To be sure, corruption went beyond electricity, water, construction and various administrative formalities one submitted to but, truth be told, the Lebanese honed unprecedented survival skills that allowed them to grease palms, get their businesses going, and prosper -- albeit on a much more limited scale.
The documents then have Garvaglia speaking to Kammoun who assures him that " everything has come, I've done everything, and immediately I've turned everything over to Praveen." In connecting the dots between these text messages and phone calls, the Italian authorities managed to piece together part of the complex financial screen Finmeccanica allegedly managed to put together in order to grease palms and get their VVIP helicopter contract.
A civil society activist, Abdullah Barat, called the arrest a proof of administrative corruption in the attorney office, where people had to grease palms before their cases were tried.
Not only funds of exporters are stuck for months, but they also have to 'grease palms of the bureaucrats' to get the refunds.
They could either grease palms, effectively buying the World Cup, they could report it to FIFA, or they could do nothing until all the dust had settled when we could take the moral high ground and claim we had been shafted.
British businessmen tempted to grease palms and make deals with competitors in smoke-filled rooms to clinch lucrative international contracts, could earn themselves jail time and hefty fines from the US courts, warns a West Midlands lawyer.
The West is hardly blameless and too many Western businessmen are prepared to grease palms to get things done.