to oil the knocker
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
To fee the porter. The expression is from Racine's Les Plaideurs: "On rfentre point chez lui sans graisser le marteaiT' ("No one enters his house without oiling the knocker").
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “to oil the knocker” mean?
To fee the porter. The expression is from Racine's Les Plaideurs: "On rfentre point chez lui sans graisser le marteaiT' ("No one enters his house without oiling the knocker").
Is “to oil the knocker” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.