English

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Etymology

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From grease +‎ ball; possibly derived from the fact that Italians and Italian-Americans are stereotyped as having greasy or greased-up hair.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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greaseball (plural greaseballs)

  1. (US, slang, derogatory, ethnic slur) A person of Italian descent especially, but also used pejoratively to refer to people of Spanish, Portuguese, Greek, other Mediterranean, or Latin American descent.
    Hyponyms: dago, Eyetie, goombah, guido, guinea, wog, wop (Italian)
    • 1982, Stephen King, Survivor Type:
      Do you think I wanted to walk across that stage and get my diploma and look down and see that fat greaseball sitting there? [] I got into a fraternity, too. It wasn’t one of the good ones, not with a name like Pinzetti, but a fraternity all the same.
  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.

Translations

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