lickspittle

WOTD – 10 October 2009    

English

Alternative forms

• lick-spittle

Etymology

A compounding: lick (“pass one’s tongue over”) + spittle (“saliva”); the verb may derive by back-formation from the nominal derivation lickspittling (see below).

Pronunciation

• (RP) enPR: lĭkʹspĭtl, lĭkʹspĭtəl, IPA: /ˈlɪkspɪtl/, /ˈlɪkspɪtəl/, X-SAMPA: /"lIkspItl/, /"lIkspIt@l/

Noun

lickspittle (plural lickspittles)

1. A fawning toady; a base sycophant.
2. (by extension) The practice of giving empty flattery for personal gain.

Synonyms

• (fawning toady): brown noser, flatterer, sycophant, toady

Derived terms

• lickspittling (verbal noun)

Translations

fawning toady

• Russian: льстец (ru) (lʹstec) m , подхалим (ru) (podxalím) m ; лизоблюд (ru) (lizobljúd) m 

practice of giving empty flattery

• Dutch: slijmerd (nl),pluimstrijker (nl)

• Russian: лизоблюдство (ru) (lizobljúdstvo) n , подхалимство (ru) (podxalímstvo) n 

Verb

lickspittle (third-person singular simple present lickspittles, present participle lickspittling, simple past and past participle lickspittled)

1. (transitive) Play the toady to (someone); take the rôle of a lickspittle to please (someone).

Translations

a fawning toady

• Danish: spytslikker (da) c
• Finnish: nuoleskelija (fi)
• French: lèche-botte (fr), lèche-cul (fr)
• Macedonian: подлизурко (mk) (podlízurko) m

• Norwegian: spyttslikker (no) m
• Russian: льстить (ru) (lʹstitʹ), подхалимничать (ru) (podxalimničatʹ), (informal, colloquial) подлизываться (ru) (podlizyvatʹsja)