greasy pole

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.
2. The slippery pole used in the event.
   • 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
   • 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

   Synonyms:

   grease pole, greased pole

3. (figuratively) The 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
   • 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