Lickspittling

Part of speech: adjective, noun

Definitions

1. Acting in an excessively obsequious and fawning manner toward someone in authority or power
2. Engaging in shameless flattery and servile behavior to gain favor from a superior
3. Displaying abject submission and eager compliance through excessive deference and flattery

Etymology: Lickspittle, the noun, is a compound of "lick" and "spittle," meaning saliva, and the image it creates is one of a servile person so eager to please that he would lick the spit of a superior. The Oxford English Dictionary records the noun as "lickspittle" in its entry, and the participial form "lickspittling" follows from it. The verb may have arrived by back-formation, a process in which speakers work backwards from a longer noun or gerund to create a shorter verb. In this case, "lickspittling" may have been the earlier form, with "lickspittle" as the verb that later was built back from it. The exact order of these forms is uncertain. The word carries a sense of contempt, describing someone who flatters or fawns over a powerful person in order to gain favour. Its physical imagery, the tongue and saliva, makes the insult far more striking than a plain term for flattery would be.

Synonyms: fawning, servile