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Grease the wheels

verb

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To create conditions likely to produce or hasten favorable future developments. idiomatic

    "Once a way of greasing the wheels of a gruesome bureaucracy, bribery has now become part of the cost of doing business."

Etymology

By a metaphor in which facilitating human socioeconomic interaction, or any other process or system, is portrayed as lubricating machinery; in this regard, compare also lubrication payment and social lubricant.

See also for "grease the wheels"

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