oil

oil (one's) hand

To bribe one (to do or facilitate something), as or as if by slipping money into one's hand. A: "How are we going to get a table without a reservation?" B: "Don't worry, I oiled the hostess' hand, and she promised us a table in no time." I oiled my brother's hand to stop him from telling Mom that I had a party while she was away.
See also: hand, oil

oil (one's) palm

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

oil (someone's)

hand/palm Informal
1. To bribe: an attorney who tried to oil the judge's hand to obtain a favorable verdict.
2. To give a tip to: oiled the porter's palm.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition.
See:
  • banana oil
  • be as/like oil and water
  • be like oil and water
  • be no oil painting
  • burn the midnight oil
  • burn the midnight oil, to
  • castor oil artist
  • good oil
  • grease palm
  • grease someone's palm
  • grease the wheels
  • idiot oil
  • jet from (something)
  • live on the smell of an oil rag
  • neck oil
  • no oil painting
  • oil
  • oil (one's) hand
  • oil (one's) palm
  • oil and water
  • oil and water do not mix
  • oil burner
  • oil field trash
  • oil it
  • oil of angels
  • oil the wheels
  • oil trash
  • oil up
  • palm oil
  • palm-oil
  • pour oil on troubled water
  • pour oil on troubled water(s)
  • pour oil on troubled waters
  • pour oil on troubled waters, to
  • snake oil
  • snake oil salesman
  • squeaking wheel gets the oil
  • strike it rich
  • strike oil
  • strike oil, to
  • the good oil
  • the squeaking wheel gets the oil
  • the squeaky wheel gets the grease/oil
  • the squeaky wheel gets the oil
  • tongue oil
References in periodicals archive
This standard part of oil field maintenance still carries a cost: Eventually the injected water seeps into the oil itself, and the stuff that makes it to the surface becomes increasingly contaminated.
Crude awakening: the best hope for meeting growing world demand for oil, say experts, is to tap Saudi Arabia's reserves. A Bush advisor on energy says those reserves don't exist
Khatibi added that Asian customers prefer to buy Iranian oil.
Former Iranian rep in OPEC: All oil refineries worldwide need Iran's crude oil
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KPT shipping intelligence report
He said 61 brands of oil and ghee had failed whereas 118 others were found up to the mark.
61 ghee, oil brands declared injurious to health
Insulating oil in an electrical power transformer is commonly known as transformer oil.
IMPROVING DIFFERENT PARAMETERS OF TRANSFORMER OIL FROM PAKISTAN NATIONAL REFINERY LIMITED
Bush over a year ago to aid the Iraq Oil Ministry--the one ministry that U.S.
The long game
Leading oil companies have also endorsed The Verifier, as an additional check on their own control systems and as a tool for promoting a more trustful relationship with their customers.
Ultrasonic measuring system helps keep buildings oil right
Its appearance has made the tools traditionally used to predict oil market fluctuations at least temporarily obsolete.
How Wall Street controls oil: and how OPEC will be the fall guy for $90 oil
When a grounded tanker or burst pipeline releases oil into the sea, response teams first attempt to contain the spill with a large loop of plastic tubing that surrounds the oil.
Cleanup speedup: device improves oil-spill recovery
That is just what has been happening with oil. There never was a shortage of oil, per se.
OPEC's cuts mean no oil shortage
Supply routes are currently being stymied by poor infrastructure, particularly pipelines, and the volatile political situation in the Middle East, from which Japan imports around 90 percent of its oil, has forced it into a race to diversify its sources.
Power sourcing: Japan's race for resources
Declining oil reserves in Colombia is changing the way Ecopetrol, the country's largest company, does business.
Running on empty: Colombia has to move fast to modernize its state-run oil sector
Not only has Chavez delivered cheap oil to the Bronx and other poor communities in the United States.
Hugo Chavez
Is oil leaking from the transfer case oil fill plug of your M1117 armored security vehicle (ASV)?
Note this tip before you dip
Indian firm supplies portable chillers and hot-water and oil mold-temperature controllers.
Heating & cooling