"greasy pole" meaning in All languages combined

See greasy pole on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

Forms: greasy poles [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun|~}} greasy pole (countable and uncountable, plural greasy poles)
  1. A sporting event that involves staying on, climbing up, walking over or otherwise traversing a pole that has been made slippery. Tags: countable, uncountable
    Sense id: en-greasy_pole-en-noun-G8Bpzf28 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 64 2 35
  2. The slippery pole used in the event. Tags: countable, uncountable Synonyms: grease pole, greased pole
    Sense id: en-greasy_pole-en-noun-v7E4uQcC
  3. (figurative) The work and scheming that leads to the position of prime minister or other leadership position. Tags: countable, figuratively, uncountable
    Sense id: en-greasy_pole-en-noun-RgbXAvUU
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Translations (event): cucanya [feminine] (Catalan), cuccagna [feminine] (Italian), cucaña [feminine] (Spanish)
Disambiguation of 'event': 53 47 0

Download JSON data for greasy pole meaning in All languages combined (2.9kB)

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "greasy poles",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "~"
      },
      "expansion": "greasy pole (countable and uncountable, plural greasy poles)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "64 2 35",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A sporting event that involves staying on, climbing up, walking over or otherwise traversing a pole that has been made slippery."
      ],
      "id": "en-greasy_pole-en-noun-G8Bpzf28",
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1886, Thomas Hardy, chapter 16, in The Mayor of Casterbridge",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The slippery pole used in the event."
      ],
      "id": "en-greasy_pole-en-noun-v7E4uQcC",
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "38 61 2",
          "word": "grease pole"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "38 61 2",
          "word": "greased pole"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1869, Benjamin Disraeli, quoted in Metaphor and Thought, Cambridge University Press →ISBN, page 238",
          "text": "I have climbed to the top of the greasy pole."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009, Franz Bosbach, John R. Davis, Andreas Fahrmeir, Industrieentwicklung / Promotion of Industry: An Anglo-German Dialogue: Ein deutsch-britischer Dialog, Walter de Gruyter, page 97",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2013, Sasha Fenton, Unexplained Zodiac: The Inside Story of Your Sign, Charlesbridge, page 49",
          "text": "They have strong opinions, which they moderate while climbing up the greasy pole of politics or advancement at work.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The work and scheming that leads to the position of prime minister or other leadership position."
      ],
      "id": "en-greasy_pole-en-noun-RgbXAvUU",
      "links": [
        [
          "prime minister",
          "prime minister"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figurative) The work and scheming that leads to the position of prime minister or other leadership position."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "figuratively",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "_dis1": "53 47 0",
      "code": "ca",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "sense": "event",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "cucanya"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "53 47 0",
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "event",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "cuccagna"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "53 47 0",
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "event",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "cucaña"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "greasy pole"
  ],
  "word": "greasy pole"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English uncountable nouns"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "greasy poles",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "~"
      },
      "expansion": "greasy pole (countable and uncountable, plural greasy poles)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A sporting event that involves staying on, climbing up, walking over or otherwise traversing a pole that has been made slippery."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1886, Thomas Hardy, chapter 16, in The Mayor of Casterbridge",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The slippery pole used in the event."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1869, Benjamin Disraeli, quoted in Metaphor and Thought, Cambridge University Press →ISBN, page 238",
          "text": "I have climbed to the top of the greasy pole."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009, Franz Bosbach, John R. Davis, Andreas Fahrmeir, Industrieentwicklung / Promotion of Industry: An Anglo-German Dialogue: Ein deutsch-britischer Dialog, Walter de Gruyter, page 97",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2013, Sasha Fenton, Unexplained Zodiac: The Inside Story of Your Sign, Charlesbridge, page 49",
          "text": "They have strong opinions, which they moderate while climbing up the greasy pole of politics or advancement at work.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The work and scheming that leads to the position of prime minister or other leadership position."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "prime minister",
          "prime minister"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figurative) The work and scheming that leads to the position of prime minister or other leadership position."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "figuratively",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "grease pole"
    },
    {
      "word": "greased pole"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "ca",
      "lang": "Catalan",
      "sense": "event",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "cucanya"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "event",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "cuccagna"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "sense": "event",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "cucaña"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "greasy pole"
  ],
  "word": "greasy pole"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-26 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (93a6c53 and 21a9316). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.