Meanings
plural grease monkeys
- idiomaticslangA mechanic, often with the specific connotation of an automobile mechanic.
Maybe some other "grease monkey," as I call mechanics, will correct me.
1918, Motor World Publishing Company (publisher), Motor World for Jobbers, Dealers and Garagemen - Volume 55, page 292 more examples
If you appear like a tramp or grease-monkey how can you expect to meet the people who are able to support your business.
1910, Antonin Gilbert Sertillanges, Jeanne d'Arc et l'Union française - discours prononcé à Notre-Dame le 8 Mai 1910 en la première fête liturgique de la Bienheureuse Jeanne d'Arc, page 10Brother W.M. Hillery resigned from his job as grease monkey and is working for Armour and Company, but as we understand he is just itching to get with the old bunch.
1920, International Union of Elevator Constructors (publisher), The Elevator Constructor - Volume 17, page 30
Synonyms & antonyms
nounsomeone whose occupation is repairing and maintaining automobiles
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
First use appears c. 1910 in a translated work. See cite below. May have originated during the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain, when children were used to grease the large rotating axles which were used to transfer power from one centralized steam engine to all of the machines on the factory floor. These children, covered in grease and crawling in the tight spaces in the ceilings, were equated with monkeys.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Finnish rasva-apina, rasvari
- rasva-apinaa mechanic
- rasvaria mechanic
French mécano
- mécanoa mechanic
Polish mechanik samochodowy
- mechanik samochodowya mechanic
Cite this entry
grease monkey. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/grease%20monkey
“grease monkey.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/grease%20monkey. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “grease monkey,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/grease%20monkey.
Source: grease monkey on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.