lisciare il pelo

Italian

Etymology

Literally, “to smooth the hair”.

Verb

lisciàre il pelo (first-person singular present lìscio il pelo, first-person singular past historic lisciài il pelo, past participle lisciàto il pelo, auxiliary avére) [with a]

1. to pet

   Synonym: carezzare

   lisciare il pelo al gatto ― to pet the cat

2. to flatter brazenly; to court; to fawn [with a ‘on’]
   • 2020, Barack Obama, chapter 19, in Chicca Galli, Paolo Lucca, Giuseppe Maugeri, transl., Una terra promessa [A Promised Land], Garzanti Libri:

     Ciononostante, per ridurre il rischio di una catastrofe nucleare o di un'altra guerra in Medio Oriente avevo appena passato la mattinata a lisciare il pelo a un autocrate senz'altro in possesso di dossier su tutti gli attivisti russi presenti in quella sala...

     And yet, in order to reduce the risk of nucler catastrophe or another Middle East war, I'd just spent the morning courting an autocrat who no doubt kept dossiers on every Russian activist in the room...

     (literally, “That notwithstanding, to reduce the risk of a nuclear catastrophe or of another war in the Middle East, I had just spent the morning fawning over an autocrat who no doubt was in posession of dossiers on all the Russian activists present in that room...”)