Fawning

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Fawn \Fawn\, v. i. [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.


     [1913 Webster]
  
           You showed your teeth like apes, and fawned like
           hounds.                                  --Shak.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           Thou with trembling fear,
           Or like a fawning parasite, obeyest.     --Milton.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           Courtiers who fawn on a master while they betray him.
                                                    --Macaulay.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  fawning
       adj : 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