▪ I. lackey, n.
(ˈlækɪ)
Forms: α. 6 lakay, -ey, -ye, lackeie, lacquie, 6–7 lackie, 6–8 lacky, 7 lacquay, -aie, la(ck)quay, lacquy, laquey, 6– lackey, lacquey; pl. 6– lackeys, lacqueys, etc.; also 6 lackeis, -yes, 7 lack(e)yes, 7–8 laquies, 6–9 lackies. β. Sc. 6 alakay, allacay, 7 allakey.
[ad. F. laquais, in OF. pl. laquaiz, laquetz, also alacays, (h)alaques (whence the βforms), in 15th c. a kind of foot-soldier, subsequently a footman, servant. The etymology is obscure; cf. Sp., Pg. lacayo; It. lacchè is from Fr.]
1. a. A footman, esp. a running footman; a valet.
| α 1529 Supplic. to King (E.E.T.S.) 52 His wiffe, her gentle woman or mayde, two yowmen, and one lackey. 1596 Munday Silvayn's Orator 354 How manie Noble men doe burst their lacquise legs with running. 1616 R. C. Times' Whistle iii. 1067 Lackies before her chariot must run. 1642 Rogers Naaman 159 The lackey rides, and the Prince goes on foote. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 44 ¶1 The Coachman with a new Cockade, and the Lacqueys with Insolence..in their Countenances. 1816 Byron Ch. Har. ii. Notes Wks. I. 160 He was wronged by his lacquey, and overcharged by his washerwoman. 1849 Cobden Speeches 10 Popes and potentates have run away in the disguises of lacqueys. 1855 Motley Dutch Rep. ii. ii. (1866) 146 He was not her lackey, and..she might send some one else with her errands. |
| β 1538 Sc. Ld. Treasurer's Acc. in Pitcairn Crimin. Trials I. 292, ix Pagis, iiij Allacayis, iij Mulitaris. 1560 Rolland Crt. Venus ii. 1035 At ilk bridle ane proper Alakay. 1600 Sc. Acts Jas. VI (1816) IV. 212/2 Ane allakey put ane steil bonnet on his heid. |
b. fig. † A constant follower (
obs.); one who is servilely obsequious, a toady.
| 1588 Marprel. Epist. (Arb.) 19, I thinke Simonie be the bishops lacky. 1651 Biggs New Disp. §72. 37 There are some flowers that are the Laquies of the sun. 1692 Washington Milton's Def. Pop. iii. (1851) 100 In Politicks no Man more a Lackey and Slave to Tyrants than he. 1880 Spurgeon J. Ploughm. Pict. 25 It is right to be obliging, but we are not obliged to be every man's lackey. |
c. spec. As a term of political abuse: a servile follower.
| 1939 G. E. R. Gedye Fallen Bastions ii. 37 The Communists did not hesitate to condemn them [sc. the Austrian Socialist leaders], as ‘Social Fascists’ who did ‘lackey service’ to capitalist reaction. 1941 Amer. Mercury Apr. 417/2 American bankers..have already stepped into the role of lackeys of British Imperialism. 1957 C. Hunt Guide to Communist Jargon p. xiv, The Soviet Union stands for peace, and the imperialists for war, in which they are once again supported by their socialist ‘lackeys’. 1969 Listener 27 Apr. 429/3 Whatever else went under the name of socialism was either ‘wilful deception by lackeys of the bourgeoisie’ or the self-deception of those who hesitated ‘between life-and-death struggle and the role of assistants to the expiring bourgeoisie’. 1972 Sat. Rev. (U.S.) 24 June 30/2 As any good Maoist..can tell you, Hussein is nothing more than a Western lackey. 1973 Black Panther 21 July 10/2 The U.S. government or its lackeys. 1974 A. Ross Bradford Business 129 Bloody fascist lackeys! |
2. A hanger-on, a camp follower.
Obs. or
arch.| 1556 Acc. in Sharpe Cov. Myst. (1825) 193 Payd to xiiij gonners and a lakye lixs. 1580 North Plutarch (1676) 427 Slaues,..Lackies, and other Stragglers that followed the camp. 1600 Holland Livy v. viii. 185 Like to lawlesse lackies that follow the campe. 1843 Lytton Last Bar. ii. i. 122 The..lackeys and dross of the camp—false alike to Henry and to Edward. |
3. = lackey-moth (see 4).
| 1857 H. T. Stainton Brit. Butterflies & Moths I. 156 Clisiocampa castrensis (Ground Lackey)... C. neustria (Lackey). 1869 E. Newman Brit. Moths 42 The Lackey (Bombyx neustria). |
4. attrib. and
Comb., as
lackey-boy,
lackey-brat,
lackey-slave; also
lackey-like adj. and
adv.;
lackey-caterpillar, the caterpillar from which the lackey-moth is developed;
lackey-moth, a bombycid moth of the genus
Clisiocampa (for the origin of the name see
quot. 1868).
| 1575 Turbervile Faulconrie 371 By misfortune or negligence of your *lackey boyes. 1677 Lovers Quarrel 73 in Hazl. E.P.P. II. 256 Away this lacky boy he ran. |
| 1599 Marston Sco. Villanie i. iii. Wks. 180 Shall thy Dads *lacky brat Weare thy Sires halfe-rot finger in his hat? |
| 1603 J. Davies (Heref.) Microcosm. (Grosart) 37/1 Sweat before Vertue *lacky-like doth rin To ope the gate of Glory sempiterne. 1829 Carlyle Misc. (1857) II. 19 The Sieur Longchamp's..most lackey-like Narrative. |
| 1868 Wood Homes without H. xxx. 577 The *Lackey moths are so called on account of the bright colours of the caterpillars, which are striped and decorated like modern footmen. 1890 E. A. Ormerod Injur. Insects (ed. 2) 292 The caterpillars of the Lackey Moth are injurious to the leafage of apples. |
| a 1611 Chapman Iliad v. 207 Like a *lackey slave. |
Hence various nonce-words.
† ˈlackeyan a., of or pertaining to a lackey;
ˈlackeyed ppl. a., attended by lackeys;
ˈlackeyism, the service or attendance of lackeys;
ˈlackeyship, the condition or position of lackeys; lackeys collectively.
| 1620 Shelton Quix. IV. xv. 120 The little blind Boy,..Love, would not lose the occasion offered to triumph upon a Lackyan Soul. 1762 Goldsm. Cit. W. lxi. [lxiv.] ¶5 For our pleasure the lacquied train..moves in review. 1830 Examiner 706/2 Creating a hereditary lackyship in the servant's hall. 1843 Le Fevre Life Trav. Phys. III. ii. xiv. 64 As he is awkward in all his operations he cannot enter the ranks of lackeyship. 1843 Carlyle in Froude Life Lond. (1884) I. 312 Sound sleep for a few hours, and a lackey to awaken you at half-past six. It is over now, all that lackeyism, thank God! |
▪ II. lackey, v. (
ˈlækɪ)
Forms: see the
n. [f. lackey n.] † 1. intr. To do service as a lackey,
esp. as a running footman; to run on errands, dance attendance, do menial service. Frequently
fig. of persons and immaterial things. Const.
after,
by,
to,
upon; also,
to lackey it.
Obs.| 1568 Hist. Jacob & Esau ii. iii. C iv, I must lackey and come lugging greyhound and hound. 1592 Lyly Galathea iv. ii, Cupid,..you shall..lackie after Diana all day. 1593 Marlowe Lust's Dom. i. iv. (1657) B xj b, Alv. Shall they thus tread thee down, which once were glad To Lacquey by thy conquering Chariot wheeles? 1604 Dekker King's Entertainm. 323 The Minutes (that lackey at the heeles of Time) run not faster away then do our joyes. 1613 Heywood Brazen Age i. 178 I'le lackey by the wheresoe're thou goest. 1615 Chapman Odyss. v. 131 Who would willingly Lackey along so vast a lake of brine? 1633 Stafford Pac. Hib. ii. iii. (1821) 243 Making him lackie it by his horse side on foote like a common Horseboy. 1640 N. Fiennes in Rushw. Hist. Coll. iii. (1692) I. 181 Let the high and great Censure of the Church no longer lacquy after Fees. 1642 Hales Tract on Schism 13 This abuse of Christianity to make it Lacquey to Ambition, is a vice for which [etc.]. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 18 The whole of this is eternity,..that share of it that lackies it by the worlds side is time. 1676–7 Hale Contempl. ii. 73 Intellect, that in the Throne should sit, Must lackie after Lust. a 1677 Manton Christ's Tempt. iv. Wks. 1870 I. 295 That his power and goodness should lacquey upon, and be at the beck of, our idle and wanton humours. 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. i. v. 864/1 It being Indecorous that this Divine..Power should constantly lacquey by and attend upon natural generations. 1697 Dryden æneid Ded. e 3, He is a Foot-Poet, he Lacquies by the side of Virgil at the best, but never mounts behind him. |
2. trans. To wait upon as a lackey; to attend closely upon; to dance attendance upon. Chiefly
transf. and
fig.| 1599 Marston Sco. Villanie ii. vii. Wks. 203 Note no more, Vnlesse thou spy his faire appendant whore That lackies him. 1612–15 Bp. Hall Contempl. O.T. xix. ii, Elijah..had lacquaied his coach, and tooke a peaceable leaue at this Townes end. 1629 Ford Lover's Mel. i. ii, [He] Lackeys his letters, does what service else He would employ his man in. 1646 Boyle in Life Wks. (1772) I. 29, I saw one poor rogue, lacqueyed by his wife. 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Fam. Ep. Wks. (1711) 144 So many dangers and miseries lackeying them. 1764 Churchill Independence Poems II. 2, I see Men..lacquey the heels of those Whom Genius ranks amongst her greatest foes. 1801 W. Taylor in Monthly Mag. II. 505 The syllable ty..came over in the suite of the Norman families of words, and lacqueys only its early connexions. 1832 Fraser's Mag. V. 671 Why should it lacquey unlearned opinion, and..submit to become the mere registry of popular judgment? 1870 Lowell Study Wind. 402 The artificial method proceeds from a principle the reverse of this, making the spirit lackey the form. 1881 Q. Rev. Apr. 319 He had lacqueyed and flattered Walpole. |
Hence
ˈlackeying ppl. a.| 1819 Keats King Stephen i. iv. 42 The generous Earl..with a sort of lackeying friendliness, Takes off the mighty frowning from his brow. |