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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Fawn \Fawn\, verb (used without an object) [imp. & p. p. {Fawned}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Fawning}.] [OE. fawnen, fainen, fagnien, to rejoice, welcome, flatter, AS. f[ae]gnian to rejoice; akin to Icel. fagna to rejoice, welcome. See {Fain}.] To court favor by low cringing, frisking, etc., as a dog; to flatter meanly; -- often followed by on or upon.
You showed your teeth like apes, and fawned like hounds. --Shak.
Thou with trembling fear, Or like a fawning parasite, obeyest. --Milton.
Courtiers who fawn on a master while they betray him. --Macaulay.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
fawning
adjective: attempting to win favor from influential people by flattery [syn: {bootlicking}, {obsequious}, {sycophantic}, {toadyish}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
111 Moby Thesaurus words for "fawning": abject, adulation, adulatory, apple-polishing, ass-kissing, backscratching, beggarly, bland, blandishing, blandishment, blarney, blarneying, bootlicking, brown-nosing, bunkum, buttery, cajolement, cajolery, cajoling, compliant, compliment, complimentary, courtierly, courtly, cowering, crawling, cringing, crouching, deferential, envious, eyewash, fair words, fair-spoken, fawnery, fine-spoken, flattering, flattery, flunkyism, footlicking, fulsome, grease, groveling, gushing, handshaking, hangdog, honey-mouthed, honey-tongued, honeyed, honeyed phrases, honeyed words, humble, ignoble, incense, ingratiating, ingratiation, insincere, insinuating, insinuation, kowtowing, mealy-mouthed, mealymouthed, mealymouthedness, mean, obeisance, obeisant, obsequious, obsequiousness, oil, oily, oily-tongued, on bended knee, palaver, parasitic, parasitism, praise, pretty lies, prostrate, prostration, servile, slavish, slimy, slobbery, smarmy, smooth, smooth-spoken, smooth-tongued, sniveling, soap, soapy, soft soap, soft-soaping, spineless, sponging, submissive, subservient, sweet nothings, sweet talk, sweet words, sycophancy, sycophant, sycophantic, timeserving, toadeating, toadying, toadyish, toadyism, truckling, tufthunting, unctuous, wheedling, yielding
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Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |