greasy
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈɡɹi.si/
ipa: /ˈɡɹi.zi/
ipa: /ˈɡɹiː.si/
note: Scotland, Ireland, some speakers in Birmingham
ipa: /ˈɡɹi.zi/
rhymes: -iːsi
rhymes: -iːzi
Forms: form: greasier
form: greasiest
form: greasey
Etymology: From Middle English gresi, gressy, equivalent to grease + -y.
Senses: examples: text: a greasy mineral
text: […] mechanic slaves
With greasy aprons, rules, and hammers, shall
Uplift us to the view […]
ref: c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:
text: it was in the garage that Alec worked, […] doing mysterious greasy things. Grease blackened his hairy legs; grease had turned his white canvas shoes black; grease blackened his hands even beyond the wrist; grease made his short working trousers black and stiff. Yet he had the gift, which Mr Biswas admired, of being able to hold a cigarette between greasy fingers and greasy lips without staining it.
ref: 1961, V. S. Naipaul, A House for Mr Biswas, London: André Deutsch, Part One, Chapter 2, p. 54:
glosses: Having a slippery surface; having a surface covered with grease.
examples: text: c. 1795, Margaret Taylor, Mrs. Taylor’s Family Companion: or The Whole Art of Cookery Display’d, London: W. Lane, “To fry flat Fish,” p. 37,
Before you dish them up, lay them upon a drainer before the fire sloping, for two or three minutes, which will prevent their eating greasy.
text: With a skin full of alcohol and a probable overwhelming desire for a greasy kebab, I had evidently got myself into such a state that I was unable to locate the correct door to the fast food shop.
ref: 2010, Gavin Hoffen, Dandelion, page 3:
text: Nigel and Richard Bertinet go for butter. Jamie and Nigella both opt for olive oil, and Garten uses a mixture, spreading the bread generously with butter, then topping it with garlic and herbs in olive oil. Oil, to my taste, simply makes the bread seem greasy: it's great for dipping, but it doesn't seem to soak into the bread in the same way as butter – I've probably just got hopelessly rich Anglo-Saxon tastes, but for me, it's butter all the way.
ref: 2012 May 3, Felicity Cloake, “How to cook perfect garlic bread”, in the Guardian:
glosses: Containing a lot of grease or fat.
examples: text: Julian: We're gonna fill the trailers up with furniture all right, boys, but we're gonna rent them out by the hour.
 Bubbles: Aw, that's greasy.
ref: 2004 April 25, “Trailer Park Boys episode "Rub N Tiz'zug"”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name):
glosses: Shady, sketchy, dodgy, detestable, unethical.
examples: text: Let’s consult together against this greasy knight.
ref: c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
glosses: Fat, bulky.
examples: text: Now I am perfect hate, I lou’d but three things in the world, Philosophy, Thrift, and my self. Thou hast made me hate Philosophy. A Vsurers greasie Codpeece made me loath Thrift: but if all the Brewers Iades in the town can drug me from loue of my selfe, they shall doo more then e’re the seuen wise men of Greece could […]
ref: 1601, John Marston, Jack Drum’s Entertainment, London: Richard Olive, act I:
glosses: Gross; indelicate; indecent.
glosses: Afflicted with the disease called grease.
raw_tags: of a horse
Derived terms: greasily
greasiness
greasy kid's stuff
greasy pole
greasy spoon
nongreasy
overgreasy
ungreasy