greasy, a.
(ˈgriːzɪ, ˈgriːsɪ)
Forms: 6 gresy, 6–8 greasie, 7 greazie, -y, (greezy), (9 greecy), 7– greasy.
[f. grease n. + -y1.]
1. a. Smeared, covered, or soiled with grease; foul with grease. Often said of persons or their clothes.
| 1514 Barclay Cyt. & Uplondyshm. (Percy Soc.) p. xxxviii, Gresy lippes & slimy bearde. c 1515 Cocke Lorell's B. 2 His hosen gresy upon his thyes. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. iii. v. 92 Ram'd me in with foule Stockings, greasie Napkins [etc.]. 1660 Blount Boscobel i. (1680) 61 An old gray, greazy hat. 1700 T. Brown tr. Fresny's Amusem. Ser. & Com. 21 A Fat Greasie Porter. 1726 Leoni Alberti's Archit. II. 108/2 If the glass be perfectly clean and not greasie. 1867 M. E. Braddon Run to Earth I. i. 2 The paper on the walls was dark and greasy with age. 1890 Harris Techn. Dict. Insur. Chem., Greasy waste, Greasy matter (such as cotton and other oily material, and oily rags). 1892 Speaker 30 July 141/2 Little children who make themselves greasy with roast turkey at Christmas. |
b. as a contemptuous or abusive epithet.
| a 1529 Skelton Agst. Garnesche iii. 35 Wherto xulde I wryght Of soche a gresy knyght? 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. ii. i. 55, I quoth Iaques, Sweepe on you fat and greazie Citizens. 1641 Milton Ch. Govt. ii. Concl. (1851) 179 Not Epicurus, nor Aristippus..but would shut his school dores against such greasy sophisters. 1792 A. Wilson in Poems & Lit. Prose (1876) II. 38 Ye ugly, greasy, girnin' tyke. 1825 J. Neal Bro. Jonathan II. 91, ‘I do wonder what sich great, nasty, good-for-nothin’—greecy—snappish—’. Come, come, our major—none o' that. |
† 2. Anointed or ‘smeared’ with ‘grease’ or chrism. (A contemptuous term applied to
R.C. priests in reference to unction.)
Obs.| 1545 Brinklow Compl. xxiv. H iv b, Thus for lukers sake the gresy canonistes nosell the peple in Idolatry. 1579 Fulke Heskins' Parl. 118 That greasie order of shauelings. 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. (1882) 70 He [the Pope], being a greasie priest, and smered prelate, hath no more authority than other oiled shauelings haue. |
3. Composed of or containing grease; of the nature of grease. Of food: Containing a disproportionate quantity of grease.
† greasy stomach (? nonce-use): an appetite for oily food.
| 1592 tr. Junius on Rev. xiii. (1599) 16 Her greasie Chrisme which hee doubteth not to preferre before Baptisme. 1622 Malynes Anc. Law-Merch. 40 Oyle and all greasie things are light, and therefore swimme aboue, and burne. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 211 [Dodos] are reputed of more for wonder then food, greasie stomackes may reeke after them. 1674 Owen Holy Spirit (1693) 77 The Papacy may content themselves with their Chrysme, or greasie Unction. 1794 Sullivan View Nat. II. 44 The greasy bituminous particles raised from the sea. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xxii, Thy greasy ointment will hiss as it drops upon the wound. 1838 T. Thomson Chem. Org. Bodies 922 The fixed oil..gave a greasy stain to paper. 1840 Hood Up Rhine 216 When a German dish is not sour it is sure to be greasy. 1883 C. J. Wills Mod. Persia 296 The native mode of cookery is extravagant, and possibly a little greasy. |
| fig. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. v. ii. 159 The..greazie reliques Of her ore-eaten faith. |
4. a. Of wool: Containing a natural grease (see
grease n. 4); used
spec. of wool before it has been cleansed of this. Also of flannel.
| 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. iii. ii. 55 We are still handling our Ewes, and their Fels you know are greasie. 1707 Mortimer Husb. 177 See that they [sheep]..have a soft, greasie, well curled close Wooll. 1712 Arbuthnot John Bull iii. i, She would not keep herself in a constant sweat with greasy flannel. 1883 Leisure Hour 242/1 The specifications of the state of the wool, i.e. whether ‘greasy’ or ‘scoured’. |
b. absol. as n. ‘Greasy’ wool.
| 1883 Times 25 May 11 Western Cape lambs' wool and some descriptions of Natal greasies. 1890 Daily News 24 Feb. 7/3 Good deep combing greasys..have shown less decline. |
5. Of a horse: Affected with the ‘grease’.
| 1701 Lond. Gaz. No. 3741/4 A Sorrel Mare..subject to greasy Heels. 1813 Sporting Mag. XLII. 55 Stiff and greasy horses. 1844 Stephens Bk. Farm II. 226 It is a disgrace for any steward..to allow his horses to become greasy. |
6. a. Having the appearance or ‘feel’ of containing or being covered with grease.
| 1703 Moxon Mech. Exerc. 241 Greasy clammy Stone. 1794 Kirwan Elem. Min. I. 41 As to the Feel, we may distinguish those that are rough, smooth, or greasy. 1843 Portlock Geol. 92 The chalk is..very splintery and greasy. 1856 Henslow Bot. Dict., Greasy, where the surface feels as though it were rubbed with grease. 18.. Gilder's Manual 88 (Cent.) Should the presence of mercury or a bad deposit prevent the [burnishing] tool from producing a bright surface [in electroplating], the object is said to be greasy. |
b. Of a road, etc.: Slippery or slimy with mud or moisture.
| 1801 [implied in greasiness]. 1806–7 J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life (1826) ii. viii, When the ground is what the vulgar call greasy. 1836 Dickens Sk. Boz, Streets ii, Just enough damp gently stealing down to make the pavement greasy. 1869 G. Morgans in Eng. Mech. 10 Dec. 293/1 The rails about stations generally being what is termed ‘greasy’. 1894 Sir J. D. Astley 50 Years Life II. 83 The ground was very greasy and slippery. |
c. dial. (See
quot. 1787.)
| 1735 Somerville Chase i. 161 Whose nice Scent O'er greasy Fallows, and frequented Road, Can pick the dubious Way. 1787 W. Marshall Norfolk (1795) II. 380 Greasy, foul, grassy: spoken of fallows or other plowed grounds. |
d. Of the weather or the sky: ‘Thick’, ‘dirty’.
| a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia s.v., The sky is greasy. 1875 Bedford Sailor's Pocket Bk. iv. (ed. 2) 86 The harder, more ‘greasy’, rolled, tufted, or ragged [clouds look]—the stronger the coming wind will prove. |
7. Filthy, obscene, low;
esp. of language.
| 1588 [implied in greasily]. 1598 Marston Sco. Villainie i. iii. 79 Chaste cells, when greasie Aretine For his rank Fico, is surnam'd diuine. 1614 B. Jonson Bart. Fair ii. i, Let's away, her language grows greasier than her pigs. 1687 Settle Refl. Dryden 5 His greasy Jest. 1814 Way to win Her iii. i, Kettle of fish! O fie; how could you possibly pick up so coarse and greasy an idea? |
8. Of manners, expression of countenance, voice, etc.: Disagreeably ‘unctuous’, ‘oily’.
| 1848 Thackeray Bk. Snobs xlvi, With a..greasy simper—he fawns on everybody. 1871 Legrand Cambr. Freshman 367 A greasy voice struck his ear. |
9. Combinations and special collocations, as
greasy-headed,
greasy-heeled,
greasy-smelling adjs.;
† greasy chin slang (see
quot.);
greasy fritillary, a species of butterfly (see
quot.);
greasy pole, a pole rubbed with grease to make it harder to climb or walk upon (commonly used as an object of diversion at fairs or village sports);
greasy spoon (restaurant) slang (
orig. U.S.), a cheap and inferior eating-house;
greasy steam (see
quot.).
| 1785 Grose Dict. Vulg. Tongue, *Greasy chin, a treat given to parish officers in part of commutation for a bastard; called also eating a child. |
| 1844 Westwood Brit. Butterflies 37 Melitæa Artemis, the *greasy fritillary. |
| 1798 C. Smith Yng. Philos. I. 103 Cropped *greasy-headed joskins's. |
| 1711 Lond. Gaz. No. 4902/4 Given to be *greasie-heal'd. 1813 Sporting Mag. XLII. 54 Greasy-heeled, and broken-winded horses. |
| 1851–61 Mayhew Lond. Labour III. 199 We had a day's sport, consisting of *greasy-pole climbing, jumping in sacks [etc.]. 1886 T. Hardy Mayor Casterbr. xvi, They erected greasy-poles for climbing. 1899 Strand Mag. May XVII. 529 The walking the greasy pole for a pig is a very old form of pastime. It is nearly always the last item in a regatta programme. |
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 185 A filthy and *greasie-smelling old man. |
| 1925 Writer's Monthly June 486/2 *Greasy spoon, a low⁓class restaurant. 1951 Time 31 Dec. 29/2 They [sc. the Marx brothers]..ate in coffee pots and greasy spoons. 1966 C. Himes Heat's On iii. 25 A room behind a greasy-spoon restaurant. Ibid., The cook came from the greasy spoon. 1968 L. Deighton Only when I Larf viii. 110 Bob said he was hungry and wanted to pull up at every greasy spoon we passed. |
| 1888 Lockwood's Dict. Mech. Engin., *Greasy Steam, steam which becomes its own lubricant by a mechanical admixture of grease therewith. |