greasy pole

plural greasy poles

1. countableuncountableA sporting event that involves staying on, climbing up, walking over or otherwise traversing a pole that has been made slippery.
2. countableuncountableThe slippery pole used in the event.

   The mud was unspeakable. The paths through the beet-fields were simply a succession of lumps, as slippery as a greasy pole, with huge pools everywhere.

   1938 April, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter VII, in Homage to Catalonia, London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC

   1 more example

   He advertised about the town, in long posters of a pink colour, that games of all sorts would take place here; and set to work a little battalion of men under his own eye. They erected greasy-poles for climbing, with smoked hams and local cheeses at the top.

   1886, Thomas Hardy, chapter 16, in The Mayor of Casterbridge

   Synonyms: grease pole, greased pole

3. countablefigurativelyuncountableThe work and scheming that leads to the position of prime minister or other leadership position.

   I have climbed to the top of the greasy pole.

   1869, Benjamin Disraeli, quoted in Metaphor and Thought, Cambridge University Press →ISBN, page 238

   2 more examples

   Merkel sacrificed her “Thatcherite” agenda to get to the top of the greasy pole. One should be careful, however, with explanations that reduce Merkel to a mere tactician.

   2009, Franz Bosbach, John R. Davis, Andreas Fahrmeir, Industrieentwicklung / Promotion of Industry: An Anglo-German Dialogue: Ein deutsch-britischer Dialog, Walter de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 97

   They have strong opinions, which they moderate while climbing up the greasy pole of politics or advancement at work.

   2013, Sasha Fenton, Unexplained Zodiac: The Inside Story of Your Sign, Charlesbridge, →ISBN, page 49