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toady

   Also found in: Idioms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.15 sec.
toad·y  (td)
n. pl. toad·ies
A person who flatters or defers to others for self-serving reasons; a sycophant.
tr. & intr.v. toad·ied, toad·y·ing, toad·ies
To be a toady to or behave like a toady. See Synonyms at fawn1.

[From toad.]
Word History: The earliest recorded sense (around 1690) of toady is "a little or young toad," but this has nothing to do with the modern usage of the word. The modern sense has rather to do with the practice of certain quacks or charlatans who claimed that they could draw out poisons. Toads were thought to be poisonous, so these charlatans would have an attendant eat or pretend to eat a toad and then claim to extract the poison from the attendant. Since eating a toad is an unpleasant job, these attendants came to epitomize the type of person who would do anything for a superior, and toadeater (first recorded 1629) became the name for a flattering, fawning parasite. Toadeater and the verb derived from it, toadeat, influenced the sense of the noun and verb toad and the noun toady, so that both nouns could mean "sycophant" and the verb toady could mean "to act like a toady to someone."

toady
Noun
pl toadies
a person who flatters and ingratiates himself or herself in a fawning way: a spineless political toady
Verb
[toadies, toadying, toadied]
to fawn on and flatter (someone) [shortened from toadeater, originally a quack's assistant who pretended to eat toads, hence a flatterer]
toadyism n
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Noun1.toadytoady - a person who tries to please someone in order to gain a personal advantage
apple polisher, bootlicker, fawner, groveler, groveller, truckler - someone who humbles himself as a sign of respect; who behaves as if he had no self-respect
adulator, flatterer - a person who uses flattery
goody-goody - a person who behaves extremely well in order to please a superior
Verb1.toadytoady - try to gain favor by cringing or flattering; "He is always kowtowing to his boss"
blandish, flatter - praise somewhat dishonestly
court favor, court favour, curry favor, curry favour - seek favor by fawning or flattery; "This employee is currying favor with his superordinates"
Translations
toady [ˈtəudɪ] npelota m/f
vi to toady to sb → hacer la pelota or dar coba a algn
toady [ˈtəudɪ] viflatter bassement
toady [ˈtəudɪ] (pej) vi to toady to sb → vor jdm kriechen
toady [ˈtəudɪ] viadulare


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? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
There were some of the girls who were of her own sort, who were willing to toady to her and flatter her; and these would carry tales about the rest, and so the furies were unchained in the place.
Before I had been standing at the window five minutes, they somehow conveyed to me that they were all toadies and humbugs, but that each of them pretended not to know that the others were toadies and humbugs: because the admission that he or she did know it, would have made him or her out to be a toady and humbug.
"When I come into the country," she says (for she has a great deal of humour), "I leave my toady, Miss Briggs, at home.
 
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