greaser

Etymology

grease + -er. Applied to mechanics because they frequently become greasy during the course of their work. Applied to toughs because they frequently greased their hair, and, like greaseball, to Italians for the same reason. Applied to Mexicans because, at the time the phrase originated, they commonly worked greasing the axles of carts.

noun

1. Someone or something that greases (applies grease).
   ... incidentally, our correspondent tells of a West Indian who applied for a job at Kings Cross as motion greaser - but with no idea of what he would have to grease and why. Invited to find out and return within a month, he did, and nowadays the Kings Cross engines are as efficiently greased as any on B.R. 1961 March, “Talking of trains”, in Trains Illustrated, page 131
2. (slang) A mechanic.
3. (slang) A biker, a tough.
4. (slang) A rocker or metalhead, especially one who listens to 1950s rock and roll or 1980s thrash metal.
5. (US, offensive, ethnic slur) A Latin American, especially a Mexican.
   A pair of Greasers were ahead of me, but I could see only their outlines, and they didn't seem to interfere any with the scenery. 1907, Stewart Edward White, chapter 11, in Arizona Nights
6. (US, offensive, ethnic slur) An Italian.
7. (US, offensive, ethnic slur) A Greek.