apple-polish


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ap′ple-pol`ish



v.i.
1. to curry favor; toady.
v.t.
2. to curry favor with.
[1930–35]
ap′ple pol`isher, ap′ple-pol`ish•er, n.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
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apple-polish

verb
Informal. To support slavishly every opinion or suggestion of a superior:
bootlick, cringe, fawn, grovel, kowtow, slaver, toady, truckle.
Informal: brownnose, cotton.
Slang: suck up.
Idioms: curry favor, dance attendance, kiss someone's feet, lick someone's boots.
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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He also includes a glossary of more than 150 euphemisms for flattery (apple-polish, blow smoke, curry favor, kiss up, kowtow, laud, puffery, schmeer, toady, snow job, stroke, suck-up, sycophant and yes-man).
Essay: Kissing Up and Looking Out & You're Too Kind: A Brief History of Flattery
Kids who want to "apple-polish" their teachers might consider a gift of chocolate.
TEACHERS PREFER CHOCOLATE TO APPLES

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