lickspittle

See also: lick-spittle

English

WOTD – 10 October 2009

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

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: lĭkʹspĭtl, lĭkʹspĭtəl, IPA^(key): /ˈlɪkspɪtl/, /ˈlɪkspɪtəl/,

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Noun

lickspittle (plural lickspittles)

1. A fawning toady; a base sycophant.

   Synonyms: brown noser, flatterer, sycophant, toady

   • 1857, Charlotte Brontë, “chapter 5”, in The Professor:

     "I've found you out and know you thoroughly, you mean, whining lickspittle!"

   • 1920, Sherwood Anderson, “chapter 21”, in Poor White:

     "You're a suck, a suck and a lickspittle, that's what you are," said the pale man, his voice trembling with passion.

   • 1993 January 8, James Kirkup, “Obituary: Juan Benet”, in The Independent‎^[1]:

     His preposterous insults were legendary, and there are accounts of his small-hour attacks on petty moralists and literary lickspittles in obscure Madrid dives where he chain-smoked and drank gallons of gin.

   • 2013 May 23, “Note to politicians: Stop blaming the media for your problems (Editorial)”, in Globe and Mail‎^[2], Canada:

     In Ottawa, Senator Marjory LeBreton claimed in a speech on Wednesday that allegations of spending abuses by her colleagues were “hyped-up media stories” that were inevitable in a “town populated by Liberal elites and their media lickspittles.”

2. (by extension) The practice of giving empty flattery for personal gain.

Derived terms

• lickspittling (verbal noun)
• lickspittlery

Translations

fawning toady

• Azerbaijani: yaltaq (az)
• Bulgarian: полизурко m (polizurko), блюдолизец (bg) m (bljudolizec)
• Dutch: slijmerd (nl),pluimstrijker
• Finnish: hännystelijä (fi), nuoleskelija (fi)
• German: Speichellecker (de) m
• Polish: lizus (pl) m, przydupas (pl) m, wazeliniarz (pl) m, dupowłaz m
• Quechua: llaqwaq
• Russian: льстец (ru) m (lʹstec), подхали́м (ru) m (podxalím); лизоблю́д (ru) m (lizobljúd)

practice of giving empty flattery

• Azerbaijani: yaltaqlıq (az)
• Russian: лизоблю́дство (ru) n (lizobljúdstvo), подхали́мство (ru) n (podxalímstvo)

Verb

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

1. (transitive and intransitive) To play the toady; take the role of a lickspittle to please (someone).
   • 1886, Aylmer and Louise Maude, The Light Shines in Darkness, translation of original by Leo Tolstoy, act 1:

     "[Y]ou take his side, and that is wrong! ...If some young school teacher, or some young lad, lickspittles to him, it's bad enough."

Translations

act as a fawning toady

• Azerbaijani: yaltaqlıq etmək
• Danish: spytslikker c
• Finnish: nuoleskelija (fi)
• French: lèche-botte (fr), lèche-cul (fr)
• Macedonian: подлизурко m (podlizurko)
• Norwegian: spyttslikker (no) m
• Polish: podlizywać się (pl) impf, podlizać się pf, włazić w dupę (pl) impf
• Russian: льстить (ru) (lʹstitʹ), подхалимничать (ru) (podxalimničatʹ), (informal, colloquial) подли́зываться (ru) (podlízyvatʹsja)