lick someone's boots

English

Verb

lick someone's boots (third-person singular simple present licks someone's boots, present participle licking someone's boots, simple past and past participle licked someone's boots)

1. (informal, idiomatic) To try hard to please someone.

   Synonyms: (vulgar) lick someone's ass, (vulgar) lick someone's balls, suck up

   • 2022 April 13, Ryan Bort, “The Real Reason Republicans Are Loading Their 2022 Campaign Ads With Guns”, in Rolling Stone‎^[1]:

     “Far-right politicians in primaries are licking the boots of gun lobbyists,” Moms Demand Action founder Shannon Watts told Rolling Stone in an email on Tuesday. They’ll certainly continue to do so once in office.

Translations

Translations

• French: lécher les bottes (fr)

References

• “lick someone s boots” (US) / “lick someone s boots” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.
• “lick someone's boots”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “lick somebody s boots” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.
• “lick sb s boots”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “lick someones boots”, in Collins English Dictionary.