Lickspittle

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈlɪkspɪtl/

Definitions

1. A person who behaves obsequiously toward someone in authority or power in order to gain favor or advantage
2. a servile flatterer who curries favor through shameless deference to those of higher status
3. someone who demonstrates exaggerated submission and praise to superiors in pursuit of personal gain or preferment

Etymology: Lickspittle describes a servile person who licks the boots of their superiors, and the image behind it is almost literal: a man so eager to please that he will lick the spit off the floor, or the saliva of someone above him. The compound is built from two plain English words, "lick" (to pass the tongue over something) and "spittle" (saliva), and the Oxford English Dictionary records it in this form, with the stress on the first syllable. The ingredients are older than the compound. "Spittle" has been in English for centuries as a word for saliva, and "lick" is one of the oldest verbs in the language. Their pairing gives a picture of abasement in which the flatterer's tongue does the work of a dog's. The word also gave rise to a verb, "lickspittle" used as a verb, and the noun "lickspittling" for the behaviour itself. The verb is thought to have been formed by back-formation from that noun, so the noun came first and the verb followed.

Synonyms: sycophant, flatterer, fawning, toady, brown-noser

Antonyms: independent, critic, opponent, adversary, rebel