lubrication payment

By a metaphor in which facilitating human socioeconomic interaction is portrayed as lubricating machinery (e.g., oiling the gears, greasing the wheels); in this regard, compare also social lubricant.

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lubrication payment (plural lubrication payments)

1. (idiomatic, business, ethics, euphemistic) A bribe or extorted money, usually relatively small in amount, provided to a low-level government official or business person, in order to expedite a business decision, shipment, or other transaction, especially in a country where such payments are not unusual.

   Synonyms: grease payment, grease money, palm oil, baksheesh

   • 1995, Mark E. Mendenhall et al., Global Management, →ISBN, page 145:

     A lubrication payment is a small payment to low-level business people or government officials to "grease the wheels" of business.

   • 2001, Y. H. Wong, Thomas K. Leung, Guanxi: Relationship marketing in a Chinese context, →ISBN, page 105:

     Lubrication payments are made with requests for a person to perform a task faster or more efficiently, whereas subornation is an act of asking officials to neglect their duties or do something illegal.