Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US) an objectionable person.

1899		E.W. Hornung Amateur Cracksman (1992) 33: ‘I mean you, you greaser!’ he roared at Raffles.
1904		‘Number 1500’ Life In Sing Sing 263: What does the greaser do but flash his rod and bark away. He plugged the main guy for keeps.
1916		T. Burke Limehouse Nights 106: Fancy thinking I’d take him on! Fresh little greaser!
1920		Marvel 17 July 9: Hallo, old greaser!
1967–8		Baker et al. CUSS 129: Greaser An ugly person, male.
1978		P. Theroux Picture Palace 261: It convinced me that Europe was [...] a feudal quagmire of greasers, winos, swordsmen, and slaphappy aristocrats.
1989		P. Eckert Jocks and Burnouts 2: In other places and other times, the Burnouts may have been called ‘Hoods’ or ‘Greasers’.
2023		R. Milward Man-Eating Typewriter 33: A fortuni chiselled husband who’d stuck his colin in the most meese greaser on your strasse.

2. (also greazer) a sycophant.

1900		Farmer Public School Word-Book 100: Greaser, [...] a cad.
1911		D. Coke Wilson’s 74: Dick could not help wondering [...] what possible breach of House discipline could brand a fellow as a beastly greazer [OED].
1959		I. & P. Opie Lore and Lang. of Schoolchildren (1977) 211: Grease is a very popular word in school just now, and seems to be short for ‘greaser’ – i.e. sycophant.
1982		G.V. Higgins Patriot Game (1985) 179: I mean, after all, I am a greaser, if you listen to people like Ways and Means.
1993		B. Moore Lex. of Cadet Lang. 174: greaser1 one who greases to others, especially to those in authority, a lickspittle, a hoser, a crawler, an oily sycophant.
2000		Guardian 2 Mar. 2: Blizzard blows up a storm in rush for greasers’ gong.

3. (US campus) a person who studies a great deal.

1902		Boston Globe Sun. Mag. 21 Dec. 7–8: A ‘hypo’ is a fellow who devotes almost all his time to study, while ‘greaser’ is the superlative of which ‘hypo’ is the comparative.
1967–8		Baker et al. CUSS.