grease one's gills
An old and colorful slang phrase meaning to eat a hearty, satisfying meal.
Definitions
An old and colorful slang phrase meaning to eat a hearty, satisfying meal. The imagery evokes getting grease around the mouth and throat — the gills — from chowing down seriously. It's the kind of expression you'd find in 19th-century sailor slang or rural vernacular, though today it's mostly used for comic or nostalgic effect rather than in everyday speech.
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(slang) To eat a hearty meal.
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Regional slang from around the English-speaking world — British, Australian, Irish, Caribbean, Nigerian, Filipino, AAVE, and the hyphenated-English dialects that make the internet sound local.
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