ˈlick-spittle
[f. lick v. + spittle.]
a. An abject parasite or sycophant; a toady.
| [1629 Davenant Albovine iii. G i b, Lick her spittle From the ground. This disguiz'd humilitie Is both the swift, and safest way to pride.] 1825 J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. Wks. 1855 I. 40 To hear his lickspittles speak you would think that a man of great and versatile talents was a miracle. 1851 Borrow Lavengro III. 319 It is only in England that literary men are invariably lick-spittles. 1883 J. Hawthorne Dust I. 4 Stage-coachmen were..comrades to gentlemen, lickspittles to lords. 1890 C. Martyr W. Phillips 76 The South omnipotent and imperious, the North its errand-boy and lick-spittle. |
| attrib. 1840 Thackeray Catherine ii. Wks. 1869 XXII. 36 A cringing baseness, and lickspittle awe of rank. |
b. The practice of toadying.
| 1914 A. Harrison Kaiser's War 112 A social system of formality, lick-spittle, bullying, and brutality. |
Hence (or as a back-formation from the
vbl. n.) as
v. trans., to toady to (a person).
ˈlickspittling vbl. n., toadying.
| 1839 Blackw. Mag. XLV. 767 Such more than oriental prostration, such lick-spittling,..you never saw in your life. 1886 Tinsley's Mag. July 54 Demagogues who have not the chance of lick-spittling princes. 1927 Daily Express 2 May 12/3 Christ criticised the sins of the Church His mother attended, and got His reward. He did not lickspittle the wealthy. |